


Bond of Memories

by MushinryuNinjutsu



Series: Between Two Dimensions [1]
Category: Street Fighter, Touhou Project
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alcohol, Canon characters mentioned - Freeform, D-Brane, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Flashbacks, Future Fic, Martial Arts, Mystery, Next-Gen, Occult, Post-Canon, Shinto, Shooting, Shooting Guns, but from their key items
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-08-11 09:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 91,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7885069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MushinryuNinjutsu/pseuds/MushinryuNinjutsu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It has been two years since Renko realized that Maribel went missing.  Since then, every move on her search efforts for her had turned either for the worse or ended up as a dead end on the trail.  Even if she tried to bury the past by focusing on university life and her own future, the thought about putting peace in what happened to her former member of her own Sealing Club had turned her attention to finding closure to it.  Her efforts bring her to a fateful meeting with someone that looks strikingly similar to her friend, as well as a lead that may know more about what had happened during that time.  What truth awaits for her as she uncovers what happened during the Sealing Club's last major adventure?</p><p>A Doujin Book Series based after the events of Dr. Latency's Freak Report and Dateless Bar "Old Adam."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [rebellion -たいせつなもののために-](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/224938) by RD-Sounds. 



> Before we begin, I'd like to drop in a few disclaimers/notes so people will know what's going on:
> 
> -Keep in mind that this is a Draft copy; one that is bound to have a lot of grammar errors and story fragmentation. I'm privately editing it through with a copy of my own so that I can prepare it for a second/final draft for publishing. Thus, everything posted here is not final and is subjected to change over the course of its making.
> 
> -I'll be posting up a new chapter between every Wednesday - Friday every week until it ends, depending on my work schedule and life-changing events. Sometimes, I won't post up for several weeks because of them.
> 
> -I plan on making this fic a two-part book series, with a possible side-story that maps out the events before this series. Hence, it is currently [Book 1/2].
> 
> I have journal entries of one of the character's of the perspective before the events of this story happens. It also lists what is going to be in the story (though the information there is so outdated. Doesn't mean some of it may still be in the story~!) Take a look:  
> [The Journal of Eiji Kuroda](https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,18241.0.html/)
> 
> -Also, watch for Easter Eggs hidden around the entire works about the canon-verse and special appearances of characters. I'm sure you won't be disappointed where they're positioned at~!
> 
> That being said, let us begin unfolding what fate awaits our characters in this tale~!

Prologue:

“Hey, Merry, what seems to be the matter,” A brown-haired young woman with a mushroom hat asked a blonde woman, who wore a Chinese battle dress, feeling concerned when her friend buried her head on the table.

“I’m worried about today, Renko,” she responded, looking at her with seemingly weary eyes.  “I’m not sure what will happen once we’ve pierced through the dimensional gap that lies within the Boyu Shinkansen…”

The two were in the Boyu Shinkansen, a bullet train that ran between two unique stations located in Tokyo and Kyoto.  This place was special to them due to the fact that it was their third major club meeting place, to which they viewed the ‘fake’ scenery around them a few years back.  The two were on the way back to Tokyo, to which Maribel, the blonde-haired woman who was dressed in a Chinese battle dress and her signature French frilled hat.  Between the two was a large slender bag, which they planned on using it in the train when the time came. 

But this time, they were not viewing the scenery displayed on the screen.  Their adventure was in this very train, which was one of the few places that the two can view another world.  Maribel once insisted that she had seen a boundary in this train when they took it long ago near Mount Fuji, to which she believed that whatever they assembled in that black slender bag was the key to opening it.

“We’ll be fine, Merry,” she reassured her, crossing her arms.  “It’ll be just like our other adventures, I’m sure.”

“I hope so…  I just have this feeling that something horrible might happen…”

It had been thirty minutes since they departed from Kyoto, seemingly returning back home to Tokyo.  Even though they had been on this train several times before, Renko was still amazed at the Kaleido-screen projections that were around her.  Maribel, on the other hand, was nervously preparing herself to open the boundary that awaited them near the mountain.

The windows transitioned the scenery from a field to a beach, accompanied by the picturesque sky.  Soon though, Mount Fuji was approaching, allowing Maribel to reveal what was in the bag.  The two had completed at Kyoto what seemed to be a wooden ancient spear that could have been considered a relic to Japan, should they had turned it in to the government.  It had a white comma-shaped jewel near the tip of the spear and the blade shaped like a cross.  After finding out what it did and investigating through the distortion Maribel mentioned in this train, they agreed to turn it in to a collector so they could make a fortune out of it.

“The boundary’s close,” Maribel told Renko, standing up at the center, taking in a breath to calm herself.  “I can feel it…”

“Ah?”

Renko’s attention was brought to her friend, who motioned one of her hands to signal staying put.  She complied, knowing that Maribel knew more about boundaries than her.  The backdrop shown on the window she was facing changed from the sea into a bamboo forest, followed by the mountains shortly after.   This was the moment that she was waiting for.  This was the moment that would change the Sealing Club forever.

Maribel drew the spear behind her with both hands on it and closed her eyes.  She began concentrating on where she imagined where the gap could be and opened her eyes, setting her visual at the point.  She swung the spear at a slightly upward angle, with the weapon seemingly cutting through the window.  She had just enough time to notice that the blade was about to hit a nearby table to the left, to which she turned the blade so the flat side did little damage to it.  She sighed in relief, glad that she had pierced through the gap.

Renko looked around Maribel, seeing what seemed to be her cutting through the kaleidoscopic window.  Strangely enough, however, the window presented no sign of damage when she swung the spear at it.

“What are you doing, Merry,” she shockingly asked her.  “You know we can’t afford paying for it!”

With a downward wave of her right hand, Maribel opened up the gap that she had just created.  Renko had seen many gaps opened up by her best friend, but this one apparently seemed different.  There was a pathway that led to a set of stone staircases ascending up.  Maribel lowered the spear to her left side and extended her right hand to Renko.

“Shall we go,” Maribel asked her.  “It won’t remain open for long, so this probably is our only window of opportunity in breaching through.”

“Sure,” Renko responded, taking her hand after gathering what she brought with her.

Maribel took her hand, pulled her up, and they were side-by-side.  The two were aware that breaching boundaries were highly forbidden due to the fact that whatever may be in there might harm them, but by this time, they were used to doing so.  They stepped into the boundary, ready with whatever may come after.  The gap on the window that Maribel cut through closed itself when the scenery changed from a bamboo forest back to a far version of Mount Fuji.

 

Chapter 1

A bell sounded out at the clock tower of Tokyo International University, a college institution located at the Saitama Prefecture in the city of Kawagoe, Saitama; a neighboring prefecture by the Tokyo Metropolis of Japan. 

This bell signaled the end of class for the majority of the students attending the institution.  Many students emerged out of their classrooms within various halls of the institution, storming out of there as soon as the bell had sounded through the halls.  Most of them flocked the halls as they conversed with both students and instructors of various classes, while others were trying to squeeze through the crowd to exit the campus building and grounds.  Tokyo International University was one of the prominent schools to many foreigners, as it attracted many students outside of Japan to attend this university to seek either a permanent employment in Japan or just learn more about its culture before heading back to their respective country.  On the other hand, many native students of Japan attended this school as well either as part of a work study program for foreigners to take notes and learn from them, or just have more knowledge of the world outside of Japan.

One of the students who were part of this work-study program was a medium-haired woman that had one of her bangs tied with a white ribbon to her left. This woman was a rather short female in her middle 20’s, though her overall facial features seemed to have her appear as a young for a woman of her age.  She had a white long-sleeved shirt that had a road-patterned red line at the bottom of the shirt, a black long skirt, white short socks, and black dress shoes.  Around her body slung a bag that hung to her left side, which contained her books that involved her studies as a Doctorate’s Degree in Super Unified Physics, notebooks that she wrote mainly for her classes, and writing materials to take notes and participate in class activities.  She also carried a journal on her right hand, though this was obviously not the best time to read it as she struggled through the crowd.

Making her way through the crowded halls of the institution, she arrived at a set of staircases and descended down to the first floor, exiting the building once she was on ground level, where she faced the sudden coldness from outside.  The grounds of the university were flat, and were brick-patterned with a tannish wear on it.  Sure, cars were allowed to park at designated places, but for the most part, walking to the university was the preferred way to reach classes, especially when the majority of the students preferred to live near the school in dorms.  She came upon a fountain that was situated at the middle of the campus grounds, looking at her reflection in the water as the sun beamed down at the water.  Several years ago at a university in Kyoto, a fountain similar to this one was part of an experiment a friend of hers and herself had done.

Letting out a sigh after looking at her reflection, she walked away from the fountain and began her trek back to the dorm area of the institution.  Compared to her journal she carried on her right hand, the bag was beginning to heavily burden her as she carried many textbooks in it that weighed her down during her learning spree around the campus.  Her classes interested her once in a while, but for the most part, they were stale and routine, which caused her grades to slip from time-to-time, despite catching up shortly after to where she was supposed to be at once she took notice of them.  With the way her life was flowing at the moment, it was not as exciting as it was several years ago.

She walked towards the dorms, appearing now at the front door of the building, which was located a few blocks away from the main campus.  The building expanded up to nine floors, eight of them being used as living quarters for the students to live in, while the 1st floor was mainly used as a recreational, staffing, and catering area for those living in the dorms.  Stepping inside, she welcomed the warmth of the lobby area, knowing full well that she would bring a jacket next time when she faced late winter weather again.  She walked up to the elevator door and pressed the button labeled as an arrow pointing upwards.  Once the elevator door automatically opened for others to get in and out, she walked inside it, pressing a button that was labeled “7” once she turned around.  The dorm building this woman lived in became a co-ed residential area for students some time ago, in which both male and female residents were mixed together in an effort to provide a bargain value for those who planned to live in the dorms during their school year.  To this day, the policy still worked, so long as roommates did not undergo unruly activities together in their living spaces.

Arriving at her dormitory room, she unlocked and opened the door, walking in the room.  Her half was kept rather well, though some areas remained packed with boxes that were still in need of unpacking.  On the other half was her roommate’s area, which the place was surprisingly organized with two trophies and a set of figurines displayed at his desk.  A stack of books and worksheets were by the table, which the stack had popped to where they were about the same height as the desk itself.  She walked up to her own desk near her bed, placed her bag near her chair and began to take out both her notes and notebook from the sack, sitting down on the chair, pulling herself to the desk and began working on the homework that was assigned to her from String Theory class.  Time marched on as she buried her thoughts in her homework.  About two hours later; her roommate came in the room, backpack behind his back as he walked up to his own desk to place his textbooks and notes out on his desk.

He looked at her to notice that she was here all along, doing her homework.  Knowing that she would be here for perhaps the next hour before he went to work, he continued on with his homework before afternoon lunch was served at the dorm cafeteria.  Silence happened between the two, as they both did their respective homework, though the occasional mutter happened between the two when problems arise in their own assignments.  Eventually, one of them gave out due to frustration and hunger as the clock ticked ever constantly, forcing the seeming loser of their imaginary contest to go to the cafeteria to fetch for food, while the other was constantly finishing up their homework in solitude and ease.  Finally, the remaining person within the room was done with their assignment, putting away the textbook and respective notebook that contained notes for that class away and took out yet another textbook and notebook.

Instead of continuing the journey in completing her homework she had placed on her desk, she was worn out from doing her previous assignment. She took with her one of two keys to the room, her wallet, and journal that laid on her desk, as well as her black mushroom hat and jacket that hung near her bed, preparing for departure.  She was heading out of the dorms, but before doing so, she wanted to grab some food from the cafeteria before heading out.  Arriving at the cafeteria and grabbing her share of what was left from lunch; a juice packet, an anpan sandwich, and a bear-shaped cookie on her serving tray, she sat a random table, which were near a group of students from a neighboring table, and ate silently as she overheard their conversation.

“Hey, hey have you heard,” one of the students began, talking within the crowd as they ate, “another incident happened in Japan.”

“Really,” another student questioned, looking at that student with intrigue, “do explain the story.”

The student who began the conversation grabbed his ElPad tablet and turned it on, flipping through one of the news articles of today’s time to point to the story he mentioned.  “Apparently, another murder happened in Tokyo,” he explained, “and this time, it was at Higurashi Park.”

The crowd gathered around the student to see what the article stated about the murder, while she quickly caught a glimpse of the picture.  She loved to eavesdrop in conversations, especially around lunch time.  She became good at it, acting perfectly normal, as it broke the isolation she was facing.   The club she formed up years ago was now disbanded recently due to being the only member in it.  Though the club was publically disbanded, the search for someone she lost years ago remained a grand mystery to solve for her.  She had tried to join other clubs made throughout the college institution, but most of them ended up making her feel rather empty or simply did not catch her interest.

After eating her share and discarding the remains of the food she ate, she went to a nearby hand sanitizing station and cleaned her hands.  Once done, she went back to the table to grab her book and continue her journey out of the dorms and into the heart of Tokyo.  According to the conversation she overheard, there were crime scenes of people being cannibalized in separate days during night time in Tokyo.  Perhaps it was worth investigating into it, as it may lead her to a lost friend she’s searching for.  After all, this did link up to one of their discussions the two had done before when the Sealing Club was still active.

 

The time was about 3:27 PM, according to the digital clock in the waiting area of the subway station.  The woman had paid for a round-trip ticket between Saitama and Ueno by scanning her wallet that contained a pre-paid transit card, which it popped out a ticket dispenser upon purchase.  She took it and walked into the station, entering the platform to wait for her train.  Once it arrived and took in passengers, she sat down at an empty seat and took out her journal, reading it to compare one of the previous cases her club discussed to the information she had gathered back in the cafeteria of her dormitory.  The description the group rumored about the dead bodies in the city of Tokyo somewhat matched what the Sealing Club had come to conclusion in the case, confirming the possibility that maybe her friend had some involvement with the incident.  As the train finally arrived near the city of Ueno in the Tokyo Metropolis area of Taito-ku, she closed her book, stood up, and exited the train upon arrival to see that only about 30 minutes had passed since she departed from the station.

She made her way into the city and walked around the street, looking for the park her source mentioned.  It did not take her long to locate it after procuring a map of the city within the subway lobby area.  It has been a while since her last visited Tokyo City and despite the fact that she visited here multiple times on occasions every other month, the map sometimes changed some of the whereabouts of locations, which allowed the trips here to be a bit interesting at times when she made visits to the city.  She strolled her way to the park while looking in the contents of her journal, reviewing the case once more as a review.

Higurashi Park was geometrically a beauty to behold to anyone who wished to take a break from life itself.  That was, if one would call leveled hills and slopes as one, for it had several ground levels before it reached the roadside.  In the seasons of spring and summer, one could hear the cicadas cry at night, which made all the more for tourists to hear them while they could during those seasons.  The short brunette woman arrived at the park after some time in making her way there, closing her journal upon arrival, and looked at the sight of each leveled slope that she saw below her in search of the crime scene.  Coming to a set of stairs, she began a slow descent down the stairs while attempting to pinpoint where the crime scene could have taken place at.  Naturally, the police would be flocking at the crime scene, but the yellow tape was gone and law enforcement deemed it safe for citizens to resume with daily activities in the area earlier today after they cleaned up and completed several security checks around the area.

Despite the fact that the moon was not visible due to a new moon cycle and the stars were not visible in the sky because of light pollution, she was still able to recall the two in the sky to aid in the investigation of the recent murder that took place here.  Reaching the scene of the crime, which apparently was already have been cleaned up and restored, she closed her eyes and concentrated.  One of the stars told her that the murder took place sometime around 11:48 PM, while the moon depicted a person taking in the view of the park near the fencing area towards her right, being lost in gazing at the view.  The scene played out as followed: A person was taking in the view of the park, when suddenly, a sound began to emulate somewhere behind the person.  This alerted the visitor to the noise, in which he or she decided to investigate the source of it.

Since the body was not here and was most likely with the authorities for an autopsy, it was unclear to her whether the victim was male or female.  Nevertheless, she followed where this person was walking towards, wanting to find out what the stars and moon were telling her about the incident.  As the victim arrived at the location of the sound, the person found out that it was a small little girl, crying in the corner.  Trying to give out a helping hand to her, the girl awkwardly looked at the person, gazing with a smile.  This spooked the victim, causing him or her to jump back in terror as the little girl began to walk forward with one of her hands glowing with a pitch-black aura.  The little girl flew forward, impaling the victim as he or she tried to stand back up and run away, which caused her to flinch as this little girl’s shadow passed through her.

She stared at the two shadows as one of them feasted upon the other.  She glared at the lying shadow to try to make what features the victim had.  This victim she stared at, although had a feminine body, appeared to have short hair and wore regular street cloths; a person she was not looking for at all.  The cold wind had picked up by the time she grasped reality once more, which the sudden gust caused her to fall down to the ground.  Not only did she fell on her bottom, her hat flew off her head, now beginning to dance in the wind.

She noticed her hat flying off above her as she gazed up, immediately standing up and jumped at it after recovering from her trance.  However, the hat was too far for her to reach by the time she stood, despite her determination not lose it at all costs.  At that altitude, the wind carried it at a great distance to the point that she could no longer give chase to it, but finding a lost object in a park would be like finding a needle in the haystack.  She stopped pursuing it after losing sight of it in the darkened sky, feeling even more hopeless in her search efforts for Maribel and her own hat flying away in the distance.

She checked her smartphone to see the time, looking at a picture of her and person she knew.  She glimpsed at the young woman with blonde hair, purple eyes, and had a purple dress, white shoes, and a white French frilled hat.  Doing her best to not look at her for a long time, her eyes turned to the corner of her phone to see that the clock displayed 5:30 PM; giving her enough time to head back to the train before curfew was in order at the dorms.

“She isn’t here,” she concluded to herself, cleaning her long skirt of the dirt that was collected from her fall by patting it and shaking her head, “time to go back, I guess...”

Disappointed at the fact that the woman on the picture was not here at all and that her hat flew off somewhere in the park, she was left with no choice but to go back to the subway station at Ueno to head back home.  Once she arrived at the subway, she scanned her wallet at the subway entrance to register for the one-way trip back to Kawagoe and waited patiently for the train’s arrival.  Her head began to throb as she sat down on a nearby bench in an effort to gather her thoughts once more.

Her scheduled train had arrived after an hour, to which she walked inside it after the doors released crowds of people from within into the subway lobby area.  Once more, the train was filled with passengers, but not by a large margin like before, allowing her to find a seat with relative ease.  She took out her journal and turned to a random entry as tears beginning to flow from her as she read the contents.  Thoughts of doubt and remorse began to overcome her mind as she continued to find her friend, Maribel Hearn, for so long.  Though every clue she had discovered and debunked or confirmed had lead her one step closer to finding her over the years, she felt as if those clues made her step further away from progressing with the investigation, as they lead to more cryptic clues such as what happened in today’s findings.

Ever since she was born, Renko had discovered that she had the ability to call on the stars and moon, allowing her to pinpoint the exact location of landmarks around Earth, and even expanded to finding and identifying the meaning of interesting objects, though this took a lot of effort within her to aptly perform.  This ability originally made Renko a living GPS and later an identifier of worldly objects.  She had tried to locate her missing friend using this power, but the stars and moons could not pinpoint her exact location at all, nor did any object or clue she obtained since her friend went missing two years ago precisely told any clear connections to their past adventures.  This had made her search efforts more complex, pushing her to the verge of closing club activities for good.

 

The clock constantly ticked on in at the now empty dorm room at the 7th floor.  It was 7:57 PM and the woman who was currently one of two residents to this dorm room had arrived back in the room and sighed at the sight of her room.  She came to her desk, placed her journal near her homework, and sat at the chair that was provided with the desk, pondering about the investigation instead of working on her assignments.  Tears continued to flow through her eyelids as if she was cursed with bad luck and misfortune today in her search efforts.  She began wiping them off with one of her index fingers.  At first, she thought that life was an empty shell, only to find out later that something was amiss.  When she found out that her best friend had not been attending their usual Sealing Club meetings, she began a thorough investigation in locating her.

“Oh heavens,” she began chanting to herself. “Why must you forsake me in my search for Merry?”

Renko continued to lament the loss of Maribel for some time, placing her head down on the sprawled-out assignments lying in front of her.  After a while, her tears began drying out on her face as she lifted her head to see the paperwork still intact, waiting for it to be finished.  Despite not being in the mood of dealing with homework assignments, she still had to continue working on it, regardless of her sorrow.  She opened up her textbooks and reburied her thoughts in the assignments once more to both repress the memories of Maribel Hearn and focus on what she could do for herself at the moment.  After all, her scholarships depended on her grades and she would not want free money to disappear from her grasp by a now seemingly hopeless cause in finding her friend or a lost hat that had flown away from her head somewhere in Tokyo, Japan…


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Former Martial Artist, turned Classic Fighting Game Enthusiast and Junker, Eiji Kuroda has held himself pretty well for a young citizen in Japan. Living life as usual, he came upon a mushroom hat with a ribbon tied around it that once belonged to someone he once vaguely knew when trying to find a clock within a snowy park. As he took it home and investigated on who it specifically belonged to, memories of the past began to surface within his thoughts. For what memories of Eiji's past did this hat unearth?

“Wake up, Kuroda, Eiji,” a female worker ordered her sleeping co-worker, who had his head on the workbench, shaking him frantically to try to get him up.  “The boss is around the workplace!”

About a few seconds later, a male worker of short height, who was sleeping on the job in a small workshop room, opened his dull hazel eyes and quickly scanned the environment, looking at who woke him up on his peace nap.  Noticing that a co-worker was the one that woke him up instead of management, he sighed in relief.  Luckily, management did not catch him sleeping on the job yet, which at the same time; he cursed himself in his thoughts that he did so discreetly.

“O-oh, it’s you, Mizunami-san,” Eiji responded, weakly smiling back as he stood up from his chair and looked at her.

“Why sleep during work,” Mizunami asked him, going back to the door to grab her assigned project outside the room.

“I wanted to be ahead of my work schedule, so I arrived early,” he answered, looking back at the dismantled television set on the workbench he laid his head on.  “However, I must have fallen asleep doing so, heh.”

“Well, refrain from sleeping next time because you won’t be so lucky if it happens again!”

Eiji shook his head in an effort to expel the feeling of fatigue within him and continued with what he was working on, reevaluating the progress of his assignment before his unexpectedly falling asleep hours ago.  In front of him was an LED Television set, which he properly dismantled the front screen prior to unexpectedly falling asleep on the job.  He reevaluated his work and noticed the burnt lamp and where he was at in his project.  Putting on his work gloves once more, he was about to continue his own assignment, until Mizunami requested his assistance in lifting a heavy product up onto her workbench, which he lent his aid to her when she needed him, despite the sudden interruption of his own work. 

Time passed as the two worked on their own assignments at separate workbenches.  After fixing up the burnt LED Light from within and examining the machine for good measure, he reassembled it back together and tested it, giving the pass on it after testing it with a nearby DVD player.  Unplugging the TV and the DVD player, he took the paper that came with the project, wrote in the results of his work, packed the TV in the box it came with, and took it with him to the drop-in area within the factory.

In this day of progressive technology, a Junker was not a simple occupation that carried minimal risks, nor was it a job that many found a purpose in.  In fact, fixing up an old product ranging from five to seventy-five years ago was considered to be a lost cause to the public, for technology constantly evolved and improved over time.  Additionally, finding parts for old products of the times proved to be difficult because production for these objects were obviously discontinued.  There was also the risk of it being faulty, while injuries were common if safety was not taken seriously.

Recently, Eiji went through an accident, which a sharpened plate cut on his left shoulder blade.  Though he had recovered for the most part from that injury, it left a scar that reminded him to watch out for falling objects in the workplace next time.  Despite the risks and skepticism society criticized to those who chose the path of the Junker, the Japanese government, along with many other industries, gave their respects to those who chose this line of work due to the fact that the evolution of technology itself could not keep up with the sheer demands the public requested to keep up with maintenance.

 

A number of machines were operated by other workers that had different tasks within this medium-sized, well-kept factory he worked in.  Sparks of heated iron flew from some of the machines in their area, which Eiji carefully carried the box that contained his work close to him at the designated walking spaces between them to ensure the box’s safety.  Arriving at the nearby drop-off department that took in completed assignments in salvaging operations, he went up to the counter, turned in the application and the requested item to be fixed to the receptionist.

Given another assignment and a medium-sized box to work on, he quickly examined the requisition form and took the box with him back to the workshop area to work on it.  Upon arrival at the very same room he was working in, he placed the box on an empty workshop, placed the worksheet by it, and began taking out the contents of the package.  It was an old PC-98 computer and a monitor, which he laid the two on the table.

Time marched forward as he went to work on his new assignment.  The assignment given to him was ordered to be salvaged in parts, while keeping the exterior of the monitor intact, which was more of a labor than usual fixing services he was more skilled in.  A siren sounded off about 12:45 PM, signaling that it was time for lunch.

“It’s time for lunch, Kuroda-san,” Mizunami told Eiji, as she placed her tools back on the workshop wall, “you coming to join with me?”

“Yeah, I know” Eiji blatently replied as he almost broke a part that he almost pulled out, which unknown to him, was screwed in to keep it attached, “you go on ahead, though. I’ll catch up soon enough.”

“All right,” she answered, feeling a bit disappointed by his answer, “don’t overwork your shift, kay kay?”

“I won’t,” he reassured her as he returned his concentration back to his work.

Mizunami left Eiji alone to his job.  After some effort and reevaluation, he was able to carefully pull the part out after finding out that the part was locked in place with a number of screws in the back.  Now feeling hungry because of his efforts in taking parts out and bagging them, he placed his tools back on the workshop’s tool shelf, organized the bench a bit, took off his gloves, and went off to lunch.  After lunch, his work routine continued onward until the end of the day for workers closely approached, which he finally dismantled the computer’s interior.  Placing the parts in small and medium bags that were provided by the workshop, he assessed each part to make sure that they were at least in salvageable conditions for the customer to use once more.

After turning in his work for the day and making a list of tools and components he needed for tomorrow’s work shift, Eiji clocked out his shift at the office area of his workplace after he properly cleaned and prepared to leave his workplace.  The red-inked stamp read “4:29 PM” and above it “February 15th” under the clock out section, while to the left read off a blue-inked stamp printed “7:45 AM” as of the same date.  His shift in the factory was over for the day. 

While continued onward back home, he occasionally ran so he could beat the sunset.  Along the way, he bobbed and weaved in mid-air in an effort to keep his body active, which had many believe that he was somewhat a boxer as he did so.  Doing so made him look awkwardly strange to pedestrians, but he didn’t mind the people eying him as so.  Snow had emerged since morning, and though it was sensible to take the subway at this point, he wanted to enjoy the weather while it lasted.

Japan had changed throughout the years.  Several years ago, the Japanese Government had made peace with Korea after a war that cost both sides many lives and resources.  Currently, the two were now working together towards innovation and stability, beginning the Science Era at the international level six years ago.  However, this had an opposing effect on preserving history as it was, making the religious sects of Japan suffered as they did their best in preserving ancient artifacts and architectures.  Eiji took note of this, as he heard in many news feeds about shrines and historical sites in residential and commercial areas relocating to different areas in Japan. 

Some of these ancient artifacts were lost in the process of transfer, causing people to grieve at their loss at the time of their report.   To remedy the loss in artifacts, technology enabled people to recreate landmarks and space-time events of the world in the form of small holographic technology devices and virtual simulation headsets. Despite the fact that the public was angered about it, this allowed the people to explore the world whenever they wanted to without worrying much about the cost of vacation expenses or the space it took to recreate events.

As he made his way through Tokyo Metropolis, Eiji looked around for a clock in hopes of finding out what the current time was, despite the constant cold temperature and falling snow he faced walking outside.  His search efforts for a nearby clock made him enter a park, which a high wind picked up as he made his way to the central area, creating a chill that a winter night emulate.  As he continued the search for what time it was, he noticed a black mushroom hat with a white ribbon caught on a loose tree branch, which he was about to run into.  He jumped back in response and looked at the hat, confused how it ended itself there.

_That’s weird_ , he thought as he examined the white ribbon wrapped around the nearly frozen hat. _Who in this city must have lost their hat in this park?_

He stood there, looking at the hat as it was about to free itself from the tree branch.  Eiji reached and took it as the hat lifted itself off of the branch after quickly making up his mind about taking it with him or not.  Perhaps he would report the lost hat to the local police station to see who lost it.  Then again, who would really care about a certain kind of hat that they had lost these days, when buying another one was a better way to substitute it?  Uncertain of what to do, as well as believing that the owner probably was not around the area due to the weather, he decided to take the hat with him back home and search for the owner when he had an ample amount of free time to himself; this weekend to be exact, since the sun had already set to the west.

 

Arakawa Ward: one of the twenty-three special wards in Japan that was well-known for the Suijin Bridge that stretched across the Sumida River, which was connected to Sumida, another ward in Japan at the other side of the river.  Within Arakawa, about two and a half miles to the west of the Suijin Bridge was Eiji’s apartment.  This apartment of his was located in the Higashinippori residential area, Gochome section, numbered “209” at a four-floor apartment complex.

Eiji ascended the stairs of the apartment complex that he lived at, took his house keys out from his pocket, unlocked the door, and opened it to enter in his living quarters.  Once inside, he closed the door behind him, turned on the light switch, locked the door, took his shoes off, and hung his coat and the hat he had found at a nearby coat rack, where his extra coats were hanging around.  He drew in a deep breath and exhaled as he was finally able to relax in his lukewarm home.  As he made his way to his bedroom to prepare himself for another nightly shower he checked the clock to see that it was about 7:30 PM; just enough time for him to see what needed to be done around his house tonight after he properly cleaned and made himself comfortable in his house.

Consisting of an S-shaped hallway that connected a bedroom at one end, a restroom along the halls, a kitchen that had no entrance into the hall, and a medium-sized living room at the other end of the hall together, the apartment was a rather small, but well-maintained place for a single person to live in.  The kitchen was connected to the living room, which made convenience between cooking food and merely relaxing convenient.  A spare room was connected to the west of the living room, which Eiji currently turned it into his small workshop, where he began projects that he would start and complete during one of his own free days of his work schedule.  Despite the fact that he had a television set and two different game stations connected to the TV with a small library of games on a nearby shelf, he did not have internet connection, nor had digital television installed in his apartment room due to the affordability on the standard rate the apartment charged him to use it.  Fortunately enough, he was not completely disconnected with the world, for he had subscribed to two different newsletters and forums that helped him catch up with current events on his ElPad tablet that was lying on a coffee table, as well as having unlimited calls and texting options on his holo-phone provider.

After cleaning himself in the shower and changing clothes to be comfortable in his place, Eiji entered the living room area and scoped the room on what to do now.  Sure, he would investigate the hat that he recently found, which was hanging at the coat rack, but he wanted to relax at this point after a hard day’s work, considering the current time of today.  His stomach grumbled, and it was obvious that he needed something to eat first before anything else.

Believing that he preferred a quick snack over a full-course dinner for today, he went to the fridge to grab some leftover sushi he had a day ago, placing about six of them on a clean plate, stored the rest back in the fridge, and enjoy his meager dinner after grabbing some wasabi, soy sauce, and a cup of water to complement his meal.  About to eat, he paused and stood up from the counter.  He went to the coffee table, grabbed and checked on his ElPad tablet for the latest news in the media, standing it on the countertop as he ate his meal so he could see what was written in it.

Though the articles he read were not of interest as of late to Eiji, they at least provided a good read from time to time.  No new interesting articles were around, so he swiped his finger around the ElPad, going to his digital library.  Currently, an e-book named Dr. Latency’s Freak Report given to him by an old friend had piqued his interest when he noticed it in the library app a year ago.  After what seemed to be about an hour of reading through this e-book, he laid down his tablet and placed the now empty plate that once held his sushi, wasabi, and soy sauce in the kitchen sink, alongside with the chopsticks.  As this was practically the beginning of his usual week, it was a bit too early for cleaning, so he turned off his tablet, placed it back on the coffee table, and retreated back to his bedroom for some time.

Upon returning back to the living room, he had on his hand a rolled up bamboo scroll and a calligraphy pen on the other.  Setting them down on the table near the sofa, he turned on his TV, grabbed a strange shaped controller, picked up a game he had in his collection called Extreme Fighters on the Street VII, opened the case, and inserted the disk inside the small opening in the console once he turned it on. This console, the PlaySystem4, was an ancient machine that he picked up during his high school years that was once popular several generations ago.  Apparently, the advent of reviving these technological artifacts and games in the video game industry were at a rise and being a Junker from one of the most respected factories in Japan that restored such machinery like this game consoles he had for so long gave him an edge to collecting these items.

This allowed him to be one of the few in world society to enjoy and appreciate the history of past generations in terms of video gaming for free; or at least, at a reasonably low cost.  He stood up, controller on hand and then went to the small sofa that was behind the coffee table and sat down, rolling out the scroll on the table, and began to play the game that emulated a title screen.  As he was seemingly tapping buttons at random on the controller, moving animations, ranging from the people fighting one another to the environment on the television screen in front of him seemingly flowed in conjunction to project a seemingly rich martial art fight scene.

While Eiji played this game unfolding on the television screen, he kept on selecting a character that resembled a young ninja that wore sneakers, a red, sleeveless ninja uniform, and a brown short haircut with bangs hanging near his face.  Despite the fact that he kept losing matches from time to time, he constantly chose this character to try again and play against the machine once again.  Once in a while, Eiji paused and reviewed what he formerly wrote on the bamboo scroll, adding notes and making changes about what movement and execution of each attack and defense movement the character he selected on screen was executing.  Considering the fact that he worked full-time as a Junker, he spent part of what little spare time he had to study this character’s movements and practice them in person.  This was the character he decided to base a new form martial art that he was developing, or at least, incorporate in his own martial arts experience.

As he continually reviewed the scroll, a feeling within his thoughts kept tugging him.  The hat he picked up earlier in the park bothered his mind and in turn, distracted him away from martial arts development.  He pressed the triangular grey button on the center of the controller; the game paused as he stood up and walked towards it to examine it, figuring that the ink he placed on the scroll needed some time to dry out.

_For whose hat does it belongs to,_ he thought, standing in front of the coat rack, examining it.  _Much more, why is my head throbbing at the thought of it?_

He took the hat on his hands and went to the kitchen counter, sitting on the stool as he examined it more after laying it on the counter top.  This had intrigued him for a while, as his mind consistently poked itself on someone from the past that he met.  For some time, he grew frustrated at the fact that his mind was trying to remember someone who owned it, yet he failed to recall anybody he remembered that could have worn it in his memories.  Sighing to himself, he checked the clock, noticing that it was about 11:00 PM; the time that he had to go to sleep to catch enough rest for tomorrow’s work.

He stood up, yawning as he took the hat in his hands once more to place it back on one of the hangers on the coat rack.  He went back to the coffee table, rolling up the scroll and picked up the pen on the table, while shutting down the console and TV.   After turning off the old devices, he went to the light switch near the entrance, switching the lights off and made his way to his bedroom.  A silent darkness surrounded him as he made his way.  Despite being used to the dark, he disliked being in it.  Still, he managed to reach his bedroom within the choking darkness, which he quickly turned on a lamp that was on his desk to chase the darkened atmosphere away, breathing heavily in the process.  There was one more activity he needed to complete before going to bed and that was to record what happened in his day in his journal.

He sat down near his desk, setting the scroll and pen on one side of his desk and grabbed his journal residing on the right corner, turning through pages in the journal, passing already written entries and text until he reached a new page that had both a clean slate on both sides of the pages.  He had written a journal back during his high school years and still kept it as a reference to this day.  To this day, he was glad that he still kept at it, for it served as a good reflection tool in case if he forgot something of importance that happened in his life.  In recent years, however, he gradually neglected to write in it, for his life began to become routine, for a full-time job, his martial arts activities with his old friend, and creating his own style of fighting were the only activities he engaged in these days.   However, dreams of a young man from some time in the past kept bothering him about six months ago.  This had brought him back to writing in this journal of his once more, hoping that he would find a sense of peace within himself once he had written what happened within those dreams of his.

Nothing but the sound of a pen emulated through the silence of the room as he frantically wrote of his activities today, ranging from the fact that he almost lost his job to the hat that he had found.  Checking the clock to see that 20 minutes had just passed once he was done writing, he stood up from his chair and felt fatigue began to set in him.

_Yeah,_ he told himself, _it’s time to turn in for the night…_

As he closed his book and sealed and placed the pen on the desk, he shut off the light, closed the door, and jumped on the bed, crawling in his bed to sleep on the pillow that awaited him.  Though nothing out of the ordinary happened except for the sudden appearance of that hat, today was normal as usual…


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> University life was slow, to which Renko was eager to have something interesting happen. After turning in her scholarship applications, her roommate, Jun Satou, discovered newfound information that may drive her investigation to new heights.
> 
> Meanwhile, Eiji encounters someone that existed in his own past that triggered anger and resentment after Martial Arts Practice... Prepared to face his fate, will his martial arts experience be enough to handle what may come after him?

University life was slow.  Not necessarily a bad thought to have in Renko’s mind, but it still gave her a lingering feeling of wanting something to happen.

The student union of Tokyo International Union located near the fountain plaza at the center of the university just north of the landmark stood tall as many students casually entered and left the building.  This building expanded about four floors above, while about two floors below ground level upon entering the building.  Generally, many students hung around the lower levels of the union, as those floors had more recreational activities for students to enjoy and hang around such as ping pong tables, televisions displaying favorite sports or comedy shows, and even workout equipment for those who were striving for an active life.

Other times, the floors above ground level were more of a shopping and concessions area for many students to buy supplies for school, grab food for a price, or support their school spirit.  On the ground floor, the student union also had information and accounts centers that catered to those who requested information about the university, to make payments on tuition, or gather information needed for being granted scholarships or loans from various organizations that supported students in their educational pursuits.

Renko entered in the building, holding a set of paperwork on her left hand and a small purse slung around her right shoulder, heading towards the business office of the institution located a distance to the right of the information center on the ground level to turn in her finished paperwork.  Entering in the office, she headed to the empty front counter, waiting patiently for the person who manned this position by scanning the room.  The floor was a dull tan carpet and the counter was grayish white; a color she disliked due to the fact that she was too used to being routine in her daily college life.  The clock ticked on, reading 2:00 pm; five minutes after she had arrived in the office, in which the clerk finally came back from the office after dealing with a call on a phone with a client.  Her roommate should be back from his monthly sparring with his friend in Tokyo by now, so she had to turn in this paperwork of hers to the office.

“Sorry I’m late, was confirming some credentials with an upcoming student of this institution,” the clerk told Renko, “can I help you, ma’am?”

Renko turned her attention back to the counter as the person in charge of manning the front desk had finally returned.  He was around her age, in which she understood that he had just recently begun working in a campus job around the business office.

“It’s all good,” she replied, handing him the paperwork she had filed in for the application of the grant, “In any case, I came here to turn in a scholarship application. Here.”

The man took the papers she was handing to him, then sat back down on the desk and typed down her name on the computer to confirm the scholarship application she planned to apply for.  After a few seconds of data entry, he looked back at her.

“Okay, you’re all set,” he told her, giving her a thumb up to signal that she could leave now, “they’ll have you on file for consideration of the scholarship. You take it easy out there.”

Renko smiled back.  “Will do,” she replied, then exited the business office.

As she walked through the door, she noticed that her roommate was in the student union at the entrance.  She waved her hand at him as she became visible in his field of vision, in which he waved back at her in response.  Despite the fact that the two were roommates at the dormitory and kept to one another as acquaintances with living together, the two maintained a good relationship as friends between one another when the two encountered one another outside the dorms.

“How did the sparring session go, Jun-san,” she asked her roommate, noticing that his arms were shaking.

“I’ll tell you later,” Jun responded, “by the way, are you hungry?  I’m in need of a snack or two at the moment.”

“No, but I am in need of a drink.  I just so happen to know a place that could provide us those two things.”  While Jun attended martial arts practice earlier, the homework she recently completed back in her dorm room had left her thirsty.  Jun also requested earlier on the phone that the two should meet up at the student union today when he was coming home and it just so happened that she finished business there just now.  The two made their way out of the student union as she mentioned a sidewalk café that they could obtain lunch at the north side of the student union.

As the two looked at the menu and the food displayed on the counter upon entering, the food here seemed to be trendy and tasty to try out much to Jun’s surprise.  Despite the fact that it was still winter, the weather began to show signs of slight increases in temperatures with clear skies through the coming days, allowing the two to request a table just outside the café.  One of the waiters stationed at the podium at the entrance greeted the two as they made their way inside the café, in which he handed two booklets of the foods they served in this facility, followed by guiding them to their requested table just outside the building.

 

The Satellite Café Terrance is a catering facility that opened up in Tokyo International University about two years ago.  This café originally came from Kyoto University and later had gained popularity to the point that it expanded its operations to other educational institutions across Japan.  What made the facility strikingly different from the Kyoto branch was the fact that this place was located at the north side of the student union as a separate section on the side of the building, in which tables and chairs were set outside the sidewalk patio. The two looked through the menu, deciding what they wanted to eat and drink.  The prices were moderately high, so the two thought about ordering something simple in order to save each other money.  Tapping on a computer in front of them, an auditory sound of a male waiter greeted the two.

“What can I get you two today,” the waiter spoke the two guests.

“I’ll take this mille-feuille cake and a Satellite Iced Coffee,” Jun answered.

“All right, what about you, ma’am?”

For a second, Renko froze as he ordered that drink and then snapped back into reality as the waiter asked for what she wanted to order once more.

“I-I’ll take some green tea, please,” she quickly answered back.

“Very well,” he told the two, displaying the ticket to the two on the screen. “Your order will be ready in about 10 minutes.”

Jun barely noticed how Renko reacted to the drink that he ordered, but did not want to bother her about why she responded this way.  Silence occurred between the two for the next 45 seconds, which seemed to feel like minutes had passed.

“Today went pretty well,” Jun told Renko, wanting to break up the silence, “though I have to admit that my sparring partner did put up quite a fight this time around.”

“Is that so,” Renko responded, knowing full well how this story would end, “he’s still trying to develop his own martial art these days?”  She had heard this story unfold several times before when Jun came back from his trip to Tokyo every month, and despite each month was similar, at times, the story was nonetheless interesting due to the fact that his friend was in the process of developing something for himself in life.

“Mhm,” Jun answered, “he seems to have improved on his own style of fighting.”  He sighed.  “I wish he would have still strived for a higher degree in Kyoshu-ryu Karate before doing so though.  To be honest, martial arts is beginning to bore me these days, especially when there’s nobody I know well enough to commit themselves in the activity.”

Renko was glad that Jun was the first to converse how his day went, much more that he had a good friend that visited him once in a while, despite the two living their busy lives.  This alone made her smile sadly, but gratefully about them

“So what about you,” he asked Renko.

“Hmm,” Renko murmured, thinking about what she did throughout the day, much more of what she did this week.  “Other than dealing with homework, I’ve been making progress in applying for scholarships.  But to be fair, I do not know where to head off after I’m done with college.”

As Renko was about to explain her uncertainties of her major in college, a machine rolled out to the two, holding out a tray that had their orders on it.  Jun took his cake and distributed their respective drinks to one another, setting them on the empty table.  The machine then rolled away

“If there’s anything you need, do consult the computer console on this desk.  I’ll do what I can to assist,”  The machine told the two, turning silent.

“We will, and thanks,” Jun responded back to the speaker, then turned his attention to the fork that laid to the right of the plate that the cake was standing on.  He would have loved to eat his meal now, but he knew that it was too soon to enjoy his meal.

Renko examined the table in search of her spoon, taking a sugar packet that was in the middle displayed between one another, then added in the sugar in her drink and began mixing it.  Jun did the same, though he grabbed more sugar packets and a small unopened cream cup to add the condiments into his coffee cup.  The two stirred their respective drinks to mix in the added components.  Jun was the first to complete mixing his drink as he sipped the drink to make sure that it was just right.

As Renko was done mixing her green tea, Jun lifted his tea cup to the center, in which Renko did the same shortly after realizing that he was giving a toast.

“To the uncertain future,” Jun told Renko, as he slightly motioned his drink forward.

“And to the mysteries of the world that have yet to be solved,” Renko responded, motioning her drink the same to his cup as the two tapped drinks, then retracted their own drinks to themselves.  Jun took a gulp of his drink then set his drink down.  It was cold, which took him by surprise when he tasted his drink.  Renko sipped her tea and placed her cup down in front of her, looking around the café as more people arrived to be seated at different tables.

 “So, what troubles are you having about your major,” Jun asked Renko, bringing back the subject of Renko’s conflict about her current education track in this institution as he reached for his fork to try out the cake.

Renko hesitated at the thought of what her major had plans for her in life.

“I just don’t know what the future has in store for me,” she answered. “Sure, I’ve done some research of where to go next, but I’m stuck at an impasse on unfinished business…”

Jun widened his eyes as he heard Renko mention about something that had bothered her while putting a piece of the cake in his mouth with a fork, setting it back down by the plate.

“Unfinished business, you say?  Interesting… care to explain what it is?”

“I explained to you about the situation some time ago about it.  Do you remember what I told you about it?”

“Hmmm…  Wait, you told me something some time ago?  I do not seem to recall what you’ve stated at the time…”

“Aiyah…  I can’t believe that you forgot about what I told you long ago!”

Others from tables around the establishment looked at the two as Renko yelled at Jun.  An awkward silence filled the area around them for a bit.

“Then I apologize for forgetting about it…”

The two looked away from one another for a second, feeling awkward between one another.  Renko continued to stir her tea with her spoon, flustered at Jun as he seemingly forgot what she told him long ago about her search efforts for Maribel.  Jun continued consuming the cake in small bites, while taking a sip from his coffee, feeling guilty about hurting Renko’s feelings.  He eyed around the room, making sure the establishment returned back to normal.

“I noticed that you do not have your hat with you,” Jun stated as he noticed that Renko was not wearing it today. “What happened to it?”

“Ah that,” she nervously replied, touching her hair. “Let’s just say I did not feel like wearing it today.  I felt like it was in the way as of late, so I figured not bringing it with me today.”

She gave a small laugh as Jun stared at her, now looking at the hatless Renko.  She was cute enough with her hat on, but now without her hat, she was charming to look at.  Focusing his attention back to the food and drink in front of him, he picked up the fork once more and scooped up another piece of the cake in his mouth to sample it once more, then drank more of the sweet iced coffee he had mixed.

“I see…  By the way, the cake and drink in this café taste great.”

“Really, I’m glad that you liked it.”

 

The two made their way out of the restaurant once they finished their delicacies and various discussions between one another.  Once more, they were walking on the grounds of the university, heading back to their dorm room as they seemed to feel content with one another, having a day out of the dorms and from schoolwork for once.  It would have been a decent walk, had Jun not suffer a minor injury on one of his legs from his martial arts friend during their sparring match earlier today in Tokyo.

“So I’ve got something to tell you, Renko,” Jun told her as they stopped near an intersection, waiting for the light ahead of the two to switch while maintaining balance with his legs.

“Hmm, what is it, Jun,” Renko responded as she saw the light flicker to a walking signal, motioning for the two to continue onward across the street.

“I saw someone today that may pique your interest.”

“You mean your martial arts friend?”

“No, not him…  You stated long ago that I should give you word about your missing friend whenever a clue presents itself, right?  Well, I think I came across someone who may resemble the person you’re looking for.”

Renko suddenly stopped walking as he stated that.  At first, she thought he was going to lie to her, since he told her that he forgot about Maribel, but now, she doubted that he knew anything as of late?

“Wait, why didn’t you say anything about the whereabouts about Merry earlier,” she asked him.

“There were too many people in the café,” Jun responded.  “If I did say something about her, then some would think of us as crazy lunatics or something like that.  Not only that, but there might be others who had been investigating in the matter for it, despite it happening long ago.  So I… had to be discreet about the subject, or else, attention will be drawn towards us.”

Renko chuckled, lightly placing one of her hands on her face.  “Oh, Jun,” she said with a smile.  “Don’t you know?  We’re already lunatics…”  A moment of anguish and excitement filled her mind as he muttered those words, now having her full attention towards him.

Jun disappointingly sighed.  Despite the fact that Renko was indeed trying to find her lost friend, he was afraid that she might draw too much attention doing so.  He stopped and looked back at her, placing his right index finger on his cheek.

“I’m not entirely sure what you mean by that,” he politely told her. “Much more, I do not consider myself a lunatic, at least… not much to be honest.  Regardless, do you still wish to know who I found when I came back from Tokyo?”

Renko paused for a second, taking a good look at him.  Why was he acting as if he had no trust in her, despite the fact that the two had known one another for nearly two years?  Much more, just now he stated: ‘someone who resembled the person she was looking for,’ which most likely may not be her.

“Please explain who you encountered on your way back,” Renko gleefully responded with caution.  “You’ve caught my attention.”

 

_She’s back…_ He thought, putting down his glasses down on his desk. _It can’t be possible, but now, she’s somewhere in Tokyo, Japan, causing havoc to the residents._

The curtains of Eiji’s entire apartment were wide open as he allowed the sun’s rays to enter in the living room, bedroom, and the kitchen.  The electronic alarm clock beside his bed read 4:40 pm; a little bit over two hours after he came back from martial arts practice.  He was sitting at his desk in the bedroom, now placing his journal down in front of the ElPad tablet.  Beside the tablet, he recently placed a pair of glasses that he bought long ago by it, which seemed to have a screen on one side flickering on.  To the right was a flyer for an upcoming festival in Shibuya, Japan.  His hand was shaking, to which he began to have thoughts of being followed when he was returning back home.

About an hour ago, when he was returning back home from martial arts practice, a street car that was carrying passengers in it was passing in front of him when he crossed through the Taito ward.  This forced him to stop while it made its way through the street he was walking through.  Ever since he began exiting the gym after sparring session, this cold presence was lingering within his thoughts, causing him to shiver in fear.  He looked to his right and noticed a small blonde girl at a distance, walking on the street while making her way through the crowd of people.  He dismissed the fact that this girl was out of place in a crowded area, especially when her appearance obviously made her look like a foreigner from another state or a cosplayer dressed in Lolita fasion.  After all, her parents would most likely find her with the help of their tour guide throughout Japan.  After the street car passed by, he continued on his way to a store near her to pick up a flyer of the upcoming Higan Festival that Jun and him planned to go to this year, brushing off the thought of her being the source of this feeling of his.  As he picked up a flyer displayed in front of the store, which was information on the upcoming convention next month, the girl he saw earlier too was nearby.

Something had caught Eiji’s eye on this particular little girl he saw when she was beside him.  There was a ribbon, colored red on the left side of her hair, specifically near her temple that pointed upward at an angle.  This ribbon reminded him of a horrible past event, in which he caused the death of a close friend he knew a few years ago.  He continued to stare at this girl and when she cocked her head to her left, looking at him, an image of a smile with sharp teeth and red eyes, smiling, suddenly expanded off of her.  This had caused him to flinch back a bit by reflex.  The image that had just projected from her face almost spooked him, which worsened the feeling he thought had dissipated from his mind.

“Is there something wrong, mister,” the little girl asked him, trying to give him a hand.

Eiji batted an eye away from her as he picked himself up.  “No,” he answered, “I’m all right.  Thanks for asking, though.  I’m just passing by.”

“Well, if you put it that way, I hope you have a good day, mister.”

Making his way out of the store, Eiji turned to his left once he reached the sidewalk and continued on home.  He hoped that the little girl he just encountered did not follow or take notice of his eye batting earlier.  As he made his way back home, however, the thought of being followed by her began to grow within him, causing him to reach home at a quick pace.

This feeling of fear was confirmed when he stared at the image that finally loaded up from his ElPad tablet.  The article that was attached to the image detailed the murder and witness accounts of the incident that had just happened five days ago.  The picture showed an image of a female being gruesomely murdered, in which the murderer left a small hole on this woman’s abdomen.  Trying to ignore the picture, he skimmed through the article, taking a grasp at what was written about the incident. Once he was done reading the short article, he took the glasses that laid to the left of the standing tablet and was about to put them on, but instead, he pressed the power switch located on the left of the frame, setting it down on his opened journal as it flickered off and sat back on his chair.

_I cannot change what happened before,_ he told himself, clenching his fists. _Now that she has returned in Japan so suddenly, I must do something about her before misfortune occurs to others living their own lives._

He stared at his alarm clock stationed on the window beside his bed and noticed that thirty minutes had passed by.  He knew that he did not have enough time to properly prepare himself and the fact that he was suffering minor injuries from his recent sparring session with Jun wanted him to stop for the night.  But now was not the time to think about injuries.  Enduring through his recent injuries from earlier, Eiji went to his closet, took out a grey hoodie, a long-sleeve thermal top, workout shirt and sweat pants, wearing the outfit after he took off his street clothes, proceeded to his duffel bag to get his fight gloves.  Once he was done swapping clothes, he made his way to the kitchen, taking his gloves and placing them on the counter as he prepared himself a quick meal before limbering up for the upcoming jog he planned in two hours.

As he arrived at the living room, however, a series of knocks began to emulate from the other side of the front door.  A profound fear struck him as he stared at the door as it continually sounded off in this lit apartment of his...


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their meal in the Satellite Cafe Terrace, Jun told Renko that he saw someone that looked like Maribel at Shinjuku station as he was heading back. At first, she thought he was lying, until he described her clothing: a purple dress, white umbrella, and a white frilled french hat. This ignited her motivation to seek out this woman he spoke of, who seemed to now be wandering in Tokyo Japan as she was given the information.
> 
> A youkai of Yukari's had wandered away from Gensokyo during her hibernation period, to which she, herself, decided to pursue it, despite an early wake. Although she would have called for Ran or Chen to catch her, the two were too busy maintaining unstable gaps that seasonally flustered up around the world during this time of season. What's more, this particular youkai had encountered people that were somewhat associated with her, which time was now working against her efforts in discreetly catching it.

This was a lead that Renko could not miss, even if it meant breaking curfew rules back at the dorms in the process.

She stood up from her seat and held on one of the railing rings above her head as the subway train came to a halt upon its arrival at Wakoshi Station.  This was the last stop on the Tobu Toji/Kawagoe Line, causing her to switch train routes to the Fukutoshin Line, leading her to the Shinjuku Sanchome Station.  Once she was on a train that ran through this route, she found a seat within this train and opened her journal once more, turning to a page in her journal to review some information she picked up earlier when she was walking back to the dormitories with Jun.

__I hope you’re right on target with the information you gave me, Jun,__  she thought as she slowly flipped through the pages of her journal.  When she and Maribel were together years ago, they once met a woman who could open boundaries between worlds.  During that time, she wore a purple dress, a white French frilled hat, had blonde hair, and carried a white umbrella.  What was strange about this woman was the fact that she looked strikingly similar to Maribel; as if she an older version of her.  If there was anyone who would have known where the current whereabouts of her friend, this woman that Jun had described to her about would most likely know where she would be at.

She was astonished that her roommate actually encountered her in person on his way home by chance, despite the fact that he only had a brief glimpse of the woman.  Wanting to know where she would be at by now, he told her that she would most likely still be in Shinjuku or perhaps somewhere north of Tokyo.  Thanking him, she left for the nearby subway station to depart to Tokyo, leaving him behind despite his warnings about the dorm’s curfew rules and his request to go with her.

Renko looked up at the electronic announcement board within the train, now blinking the arrival time to Shinjuku Sanchome Station.  She closed her journal, stood up from her seat, and came towards the crowd who were gathered at the nearest door.  The crowd turned out to be university students from the same school she went to, who planned on going to Shinjuku together to attend a Vocaloid concert today.  Though she was reluctant to join in with the group exiting the train, Shinjuku was not a place to be singled out at, especially when danger seemed to be around any corner for a person walking alone.  As the train doors opened seconds after its arrival at the station, she settled in with the group as she made her way out of the subway train, slowly making her way out of the group without much interference with the crowd thanks to luck and timing.

The station was moderately packed with people who were waiting for their train to arrive or for select others to be greeted upon arrival at the station.  Between morning and early night, many stations within Tokyo were crowded like so, which made maneuvering through crowds harder than walking in the streets of the city.  Fortunately for her, she had no trouble guiding out of the crowd she was walking with, breaking ties with them as they continued onward towards the concert within the city district.  At a bench near the stairs, Renko sat down on it and closed her eyes, concentrating on the stars and moon she knew were in the sky at this time of day.  A few minutes have passed and she slowly opened her eyes, entering into a trance-like state that caused her to stand up from the bench she was sitting on.  She then blended in with the crowd leaving the station, entering in Shinjuku city.

 

Formally walking through a gap she had opened up in front of her, a dark red-eye, blonde-haired woman wearing a purple dress, patterned with white frills on the edges and a white French frilled hat on her head with a red ribbon tied around it, entered through the gap to find that she was in a tiled room with restroom stalls to her right.  On one hand, she held a white umbrella, to which she retracted it back once she finally had a grasp of where she was at.

A youkai, a mystical apparition or mysterious calamity that took on a humanoid or spiritual form, apparently had disappeared from her residence, forcing her to be tasked in finding it before an incident occurred at the wrong place and time.  Today, however, has seen better days in locating this apparition’s location.  Many gaps that remained hidden away from anyone that had resided in Gensokyo or the Outside World to see them were currently unstable, causing stragglers from both sides to stumble into one another’s land.  Walking around the room she entered, she looked to her left, seeing herself on a mirror, finding out that her hair was rather unkempt.

Though this woman, who had walked through the gap she had recently opened, would have taken the time to straighten her hair, she had no time to spare to do so.  What was important now was finding out how much time she had left and where she was at, as those two were not established as of yet.  This particular youkai, who wandered through such a portal, could prove to be an incoming threat to the outside world, especially when the time period it arrived in was the one the woman in purple was closely associated with.

Fortunately enough, nobody had seen her enter from the gap she had walked through, as she had clearly made a rather flashy entry in an empty restroom.  She closed her umbrella, zipped the gap behind her, and made her way out of the restroom, only to run into a man carrying a duffel bag strapped to his right, who was planning on entering in through the exposed entrance to use the restroom.

“Excuse me,” the black-haired individual said, catching a glimpse at the woman as he gently bumped into her left and continued to enter in the restroom.

She remained silent as he proceeded in entering the area, silently muttering to himself about the woman.  Ignoring him, she continued on her way, feeling slightly embarrassed at the fact that she was in the men’s’ restroom just moments ago.  Once she was at a safe distance from the restrooms, she looked at her current whereabouts.  Several rail tracks were vacantly lined up with a few trains on occupied lanes, taking in passengers.  Clearly, the ceiling was covered with cement, stating to her that she was in a subway.  As she walked around the subway lobby, the foreign kanji on nearby bulletins to her right told her that she was in Shinjuku Japan; clearly the right place that she needed to be in.  She looked at the nearby electronic clock hanging on the subway exiting door, which read  ** **2:45 PM**** , followed by the date  ** **February 19**** ** **th**** ** **, 2072****.

__Good, this should give me enough time to find her before an incident occurs at night__ , she thought.

Finding out that she was at the center of a station lobby area, she began to find her way out of the subway and into the bustle of the city streets.  The city was packed with people and cars alike, crowded on both the streets and sidewalk.  The sun was shining bright outside, which made the woman open and hold her umbrella to her right shoulder in an effort to prevent the rays from reaching her skin.  She would have flown around to make her search easier, or at least open up a gap to stay afloat in the air, but she knew that doing so during the day would make her stand out in the crowd.  Additionally, society in the outside world was not so kindly receptive to seeing people flying around, unlike the land she cared for.  She continued along the sidewalk with the flow of walking pedestrians, slightly motioning her left hand on her side along the way.

Time flew by as she moved between various flows of pedestrians in the street, making her way northeast.  It was sometime late afternoon as she was on the search for the missing youkai.  She knew where she was going as occasionally waving her left hand in a small motion allowed her to manipulate her ability of boundaries to become a sonar locator; sending off wave lengths that detected every sort of apparition that was around her vicinity.

There were quite a marginal number of youkai out today, which she filtered out who she was specifically looking for: a small, yet innocent looking youkai, who was dressed in loli fashion, had blonde hair, and a small red ribbon tied on her hair.  Finally, after walking through a seemingly straight direction towards northeast after crossing a bridge and turning to her left, she had finally found who she was looking for.  According to what the vibrations were telling her, this youkai was excessively knocking on a door labeled ‘209’ at a small apartment complex.

__She must be chasing someone,__  she told herself.   _ _After all, whoever she’s hunting now should have not provoked her to do so.__  She stood there, sensing the scene unfolding while smiling at what was happening.

The waves of knocking approaching from the door from the distance suddenly stopped after a while, making this particular youkai slowly walk away from the door, heading down the stairs.  It seemed as if this apparition grew tired stalking the human at that point.  Whoever she was pursuing must have been wise to not come out or approach the door.

__Aww… It was just getting to the good part__.  _ _Regardless, I’ll need to find a safe place to set up a beacon for this youkai to meet me at before she causes more trouble to the innocent.__

The woman closed her eyes and began to think of the nearest boundary.  For ten seconds she stood still until one showed up at under a rather well-known bridge located in Arakawa-ku.  Opening her eyes, she took out her fan and opened a boundary in front of her by waving it downward then to the side, walking through it to arrive at the other side.

“This place will do,” Yukari quietly told herself. “Now it’s time for the hard part.”

A calm, cool breeze picked up at her side as she exited the gap behind her, closing it upon arrival to prevent others from wandering within it.  After finding where the boundary gap connected to her world was at, she began setting up a beacon near the gap for this certain youkai to take notice of where she was at.  The sun had almost set from the sky, making way for the moon to take over for the night.

 

Snapping out of her long trance, Renko blinked, finding herself several distance away from a large bridge.  She looked around to see the surrounding area encompassing around her as she came to a nearby ledge to her left, seeing cars coming underneath, seeing a path ahead of her to an open park area.  Turning to face the bridge, she smiled, knowing that this structure had stood the test of time since it was made.

Renko wondered why her global positioning abilities had brought her here, especially when it was so far away from the train station that lead back home to the Tokyo International University dormitories.  The stars and moon told her that she would find the woman in purple somewhere around the bridge.  Heeding the directions of the stars and moon, she continued onward to the bridge.

Once she finally caught the youkai she was looking for and returned it back into Gensokyo, she vowed to herself that she would immediately fix up the instability of the gaps that were located across space and time on Earth.  Despite the fact that setting up this beacon in the form of the youkai’s sigil – a mistletoe at the center of a circle – was shining ever brightly on the ground about five meters to the right, the waiting phase for this certain youkai to present itself was the challenging factor.  Not only did the wait time made her impatient, but the people passing by her might have taken suspicion of her as a strange cosplayer out of place, given her outfit clearly make her stand out.

Fortunately enough, normal humans could not see what she had set up to her right, as the majority of humanity did not believe in such tales of old from long ago and took her as a woman waiting for her date to show up.  To help her lure this youkai to the beacon, she added a small step panel on the center of the beacon, which silently sounded out to nearby apparitions that were related to this sigil every time a human stepped on the beacon.  Several humans had passed on this sigil and even stepped on it, ranging between children to older people, and though the majority crossed over this, the youkai she was seeking had not appeared just yet.

She was facing the river, patiently waiting distance away from the beacon with an umbrella on-hand.  She looked to the left of the bridge, seeing the stars in the night sky were shining ever brightly towards the earth.  Even in the chill of night, she still kept her umbrella on hand, as it helped shadow her movements from those who approached her.

“H-hello,” a womanly voice sounded to her right. “Excuse me, but do you know what area of Tokyo I’m at?”

The woman in purple cocked her head to who was to her right.  Renko, who was dressed in a white suit and a brown dress, happened to be standing on the sigil beside her.  She turned her entire body to the woman then made her way towards her, while closing the umbrella.

“You’re in Arakawa,” she answered, making sure she did not bat an eye to the symbol when she saw her standing on it.  “Why must you ask?”

“I’m looking for a person.  Apparently, my-” Renko paused as she gathered her thoughts for a bit. “My phone told me that I would be able to meet her here.”

“Interesting…  So your phone brought you here, hmm?  It must be some interesting device, considering that it could pinpoint people.”

“She did give me directions from Shinjuku to meet her here.”

Clearly, she knew that Renko was lying.  However, the woman in purple decided to play along, as she now had the perfect ‘bait’ standing on her ‘hook’ that will get her target’s attention.  She motioned Renko with her hand towards the ocean, wanting her to join her in the view of the river underneath the bridge while keeping her ‘bait’ on the invisible sigil in the middle.

“Tell me more about this woman that you’ve planned on meeting here,” she asked.

“Why do you want to know,” Renko responded, suspiciously looking at the woman as she, herself, walking beside her and joined viewing the river underneath the bridge.

“Well, I’m kind of curious about who she is.  After all, I might know where she could have gone, considering that I’ve been here for a while.”

“If you put it that way, I thank you for trying to help me find her.  As you know, I am looking for this woman, as we’ve arranged a meeting around this area.  She even told me to look forward for her to wearing a purple dress she just bought, as well as a white umbrella on hand.”

The woman looked at herself to see that she so happened to be wearing a purple dress and a white umbrella on hand, closing it as she gazed at the object on her hand.

“You don’t mean to imply that I’m this woman you’re looking for, right,” she asked Renko, turning her gaze back to her.

“No, no, not at all,” Renko responded, looking away as she faced the woman’s gaze at her.  The woman she was talking to right now seemed so familiar to the woman she imaged in her thoughts, especially with the way she was dressed.  ‘A purple dress, white umbrella, blonde hair, and a French frilled hat,’ Jun had stated to her.  He was right to mention about a woman he passed by today, for the resemblance of the woman he described to her was uncanny to the one she faced right now.  Not wanting to suddenly jump to conclusions, she decided to talk to the woman in an effort to pry some answers off of her.

The sound of waves from the river began to take over as the number of cars passing above the two dwindled down.  As the two continued on with the discussion about who Renko was searching for, a pitch-black sphere appeared from the distance behind the brown-haired woman.  The lure for the youkai she sought out was working as it took notice of where the source of the sounding alarm from within its head came from.  All she needed to do was stall more time for the sphere to close in behind the woman without her noticing the sphere behind her for a chance to capture the apparition.

“By the way,” Renko began, looking at the ground in astonishment.  “There seems to be a drawing of a flower on where I’m standing at.  I wonder who left it there.”

“Hmm, what you’re talking about,” she responded, looking a bit surprised that she could actually see the beacon shining on the ground.

“It’s around where I’m standing at.  Don’t you see it?”

“Well, now that you mention it… Yes I do.”

The orb moved behind Renko and drew back a short distance after it stopped to see who her prey was.  The orb shrunk down, revealing a small girl who was wearing a small black vest and skirt, with a blouse and red tie bordered with two large beads on the center.  A decorated ribbon was tied to her hair on the left near her temple.  This little girl flew straight at her prey at a swift pace, having her right hand extended with a dark aura glowing on it in an attempt to grab her on the neck.  Curious about the beacon she was standing on, Renko knelt down to examine the beacon, causing the girl to fly straight towards the foreign-dressed woman with the umbrella instead of grabbing her prey.  The woman quickly opened her parasol as she got close to her, making the little girl bounce on the umbrella at an upward angle as she crashed into it.

Renko embarrassingly blushed as she realized what the flower in the center was as she heard commotion in front of her.  She looked at the woman to see what was going on, only to see that she had her umbrella opened above her.

“What was that,” she asked.

The woman moved the umbrella behind her and looked up at the little girl, who nearly crashed into the bridge above her.

“Damn it, Rumia… Just when it was getting good,” she quietly stated as she turned to her right to face her guest.  “Well, take care, and good luck finding your friend~!”  Taking out her fan with her left hand and opening up the boundary gap in front of her, she motioned the umbrella on her right hand on her shoulder and walked through it, closing the gap behind her as she walked through it.  Renko, however, could not believe what she saw as it seemed as if the woman in front of her was waving in the air for no apparent reason.

“W-wait a minute,” Renko exclaimed as she saw the woman suddenly disappear while standing up and trying to give chase.

The little girl above Yukari began to descend in front of Renko, stopping her in place.

“You dodged my attack,” she told Renko as she looked at her.  “You’re not ordinary human if you could do that much…”

Renko stepped back and continued doing so.  Assuming that the woman in purple had given the little girl’s name as ‘Rumia,’ she thought the name sounded rather strange and foreign.  As she backed up, she nearly forgot that a river was behind her.  The railing that touched her back reminded her of it as she almost leaned and fell down into the water because of it.  Leaning forth to face the girl, she shuffled to her right to prepare to run.  Despite the fact that a little girl was in front of her, something within her gut told her that she was no ordinary girl, considering the fact that she was out at night and was obviously floating in the air.

“By the way,” Rumia began, “how do you know Yukari? Not many people from the outside world know her as far as I could think of…”

“Is that her name,” Renko responded as she slightly began to step to her right, eying her intended direction ahead of the sidewalk.  “I never knew that until now.”

Renko had not heard that name for ages.  As she heard that name, a small, but sudden pain shot within her head, causing her to touch her head with her left hand.

“So nanoka...  Regardless, get ready for a Danmaku Battle!”

“Danma-Wah!”

Rumia shot a ball of green light with one of her hands at Renko, which quickly approached her.  With her luck and anticipating the shot, Renko launched herself to her right, using the railing as a way to boost her momentum.  As she dashed to the right and ran, the ball of green light carved its way through the railing and then dissipated in mid-air shortly after carving its way through the object.  She turned around to face the little girl as she reached halfway under the bridge, noticing the carved up railing.  Once more, she backed away, ready for anything she would throw at her, while at the same time, bewildered at what she just witnessed.

“You must be wondering what that was just now,” Rumia told her, now facing the bewildered woman.  “Let’s just say you’re trying to dodge a bullet launched from a gun.  That a good analogy for you?”

The little girl began to charge up another green ball on her left hand, pointing it at Renko.  At first, she was prepared to quickly run to the right to avoid it when she noticed that as Rumia held out the ball on her hand, smaller orbs began to emerge out of it, shooting much faster than the original she held.  These orbs flew straight at Renko, forcing her to quickly jump to her intended direction.  More smaller, yet slim lines shaped like oval paper appeared from the held orb, which kept trying to hit her as she made her way to the other side, nearly hitting her entire body on the fence in the process.  Again with her luck, she leaned on the fence, allowing her to let the bullets pass behind her.

The orbs angled at the ground carved its way through the concrete, creating small crevices as they dissipated upon impact.  Rumia smiled as she saw her prey struggle against her.  She was intentionally holding back, for she figured that this woman was a first timer witnessing this kind of battle.  She knew that the rules created for danmaku battles back in Gensokyo did not apply at all in the outside world, but she wanted to savor this moment, especially when this reminded her of the last victim that tried to play with her in this game outside of the Land of Illusions.  Renko pushed herself off the fence and looked at the devastation of what the orbs did behind her.  Profound fear had shown in her face as she stared back at the floating girl, causing her to attempt to run away from her, minding her balance as she traversed through the carved concrete ground.

“You’re not getting away just yet,” Rumia exclaimed at Renko as she ‘slowly’ floated towards her with her arms extended.  “The game has just started!”

Holding her two arms out, a pitch-black orb expanded out of her chest, covering her entire body as she slowly floated towards her victim.

__This isn’t happening just now,__  Renko thought as she continued on fleeing from the small girl, not wanting to look back, while sticking to the path in front of her.   _ _It’s just a dream, I know it!  I’ll just wake up in a train, with Maribel on my side, right?__


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yukari had disappeared in front of Renko, to which she was now avoiding death by the hands of Rumia. She thought that everything that was happening right now: finding out that Yukari strikingly resembled her long lost friend, to the injury she now suffered from a bright orb, was all but a dream. Reality ensues when a mysterious man appears, saving her by challenging Rumia to a fight, buying her time to flee...
> 
> Following the notion of Yukari rice Eiji ate a few hours ago, he had a feeling that something might happen at the Arakawa Bridge. He had memories of a friend he once lost long ago near the location, who died by the hands of a small blonde girl who constantly attacked humans to devour them as a meal. Now following his memories, he finds that past events were about to happen again in front of him, especially when someone he once knew was in a similar predicament with the woman that died in front of his eyes four years ago.

Indeed, it was just a dream… or at least, she thought the predicament that she was facing was one…  As Renko hopelessly attempted to wake up by closing her eyes, thinking about the train she imagined she was in with her friend and opened them while running, Rumia unleashed a mixed barrage of green and blue orbs that shot at a number of random directions and angles at Renko in hopes of hitting her while she was running away.  Some of the orbs sporadically flew in mid-air for the possibility that she might try to fly away, while others were so close to Renko at ground level, that they emulated sounds of carving earth when they began to strike the ground. For what seemed to be about ten minutes, she continued her poorly-planned attempt to escape from the pitch-black orb that was behind her, causing her to quickly strafe left and right while running away, once again barely managing to dodge whatever came behind her.

“Aren’t you a persistent one at avoiding my shots,” Rumia stated as she continued her barrage.

Charging up a massive red orb between her hands, Rumia flew forward at a slight angle towards Renko’s right, launching several lines of red orbs.  Though she was able to avoid the orbs by simply running straight and followed the red brick path when she could, one of the orbs in front of the last row flying towards her grazed near her left leg, causing her dress to tear while making slight contact on her skin.  

“Gah,” Renko yelled as she fell down on the floor, barely managing to dodge the rest of the barrage of incoming orbs.

Despite the fact that the orb only made slight contact with her leg, the pain it caused was excruciating.  Renko turned around and sat up, quickly examining the cut that the orb made on her leg.  The orb had caused a cut on her left thigh, with the wound seemingly appeared to be deep.  Despite the fact that a burn effect was felt, the wound was not at all cauterized by it.  Blood gushed out of it, making Renko apply pressure to it in an effort to prevent further blood loss.

Rumia laughed at the now injured and seemingly helpless Renko as she revealed herself out of her sheltered shield of darkness.

“You know,” Rumia began. “I was beginning to think that you were getting the idea of how these kinds of battles work, much more that you had prior experience to this.  Alas, judging by the fact that you are not firing back at me, or perhaps the fact that you were unable to summon bullets at will, despite your potential to do so, I am disappointed in finding an easy target in the end…”

She held up her left hand in front of her, which charged up a dark aura that ignited as if she had fire on her hand as she looked on the wounded Renko.

“In any case, time to e-”

“HIYAH!!!”

Not noticing who was on her left, a human-like figure, covered in grey baggy sweat pants and a hoodie, seemingly flew in mid-air, performing a sidelong wheel kick on the little girl.  This took her by surprise and as a result the kick connected with her arm on the shoulder, forcing Rumia to swing her arm back.  This human’s heel hooked onto her body, to which he used the momentum of the kick to launch her into the river.  This grey figure at first seemed to know how to fly, until he realized that he was so high in the air, that he fell down to the ground as well, waving his arms in panic.  As he landed on the concrete, he almost lost his balance in the process, causing him to kneel down to regain composure from the landing.

Renko saw this grey figure kick the small girl in the water, as well as the figure falling down on the ground and recovering from its own fall.  Assuming how built this figure was and how deep his voice was when he yelled, she assumed that this mysterious figure was a male.  As he cocked his head towards her, she began to crawl back in fear while minding her injury, not wanting him to close the distance between the two her.  Even this figure’s seemingly strong physical features scared her to death.

__This has to be a horrible nightmare I’m having right now...  I just know it,__  Renko thought as he approached her.

 

__Yukari Rice.  Why did it have to be Yukari Rice?_ _

Eiji thought about what he ate earlier as he clenched one of his hands into a fist, looking at the river as he safely landed on the red path.  Back at home a few hours ago, he ignored the knocks at his apartment door, aware that whoever was doing so did not meant well.  Afterwards, he saw this particular food once he scooped it up on his meal plate, which surprised him at first.  Every once in a while, someone or something would tamper with his cooking materials when he was away from home, cooking up a random meal for him to eat when he came back.  Despite his gratefulness of whoever was doing so, it remained a mystery to him of who was cooking for him when he was gone.

This particular food, Yukari Rice, told him of impending danger ahead of him, to which caused him to be ever more on the alert.  It even caused him to brainstorm his thoughts together, coming up with the conclusion that whatever was about to happen to him would happen here near the Arakawa Bridge on the red path that ran by the riverbank.  This bridge was where a friend of his died several years ago, which the little blonde girl he saw earlier today was largely responsible for it.  The route that ran underneath it also was one of his favorites because running against the riverbed’s flow gave him a sense of adversity within his ever conflicting mind.

The path he set his weekly jog on on seemed to appear normal as usual until a green orb flew towards him, forcing him to weave through it.  More orbs came towards him, to which he continually dodged them as he continued on the path.  Eventually though, he stopped and ran up the slope to his right after seeing a myriad of them coming towards him, avoiding the barrage as they flew by.  There was no river festival going on at the moment, considering the fact that the season was winter.  Still, it was strange to see colorful orbs flying through this red path, so he followed along to investigate what was going on.

His suspicion about imminent danger was quickly confirmed when he saw a darkened black orb floating towards the young brunette who seemed to be about his age, firing off a mixture of green and blue orbs at her vicinity.  It was just like last time when he witnessed this particular orb flying around, to which it continually fired off orbs from multiple directions in order to pin down its victim.  He knelt down and observed, feeling anxiety fluster within him.

“W-what should I do,” he whispered to himself, his body beginning to shake, adrenaline beginning to pump within him.

One orb struck the woman on her left thigh, causing her to fall down, bleeding.  He winced, gritting his teeth as he witnessed her struck by the projectile.  The orb shrunk itself, revealing the little girl who he saw earlier.  His emotions turned from fear, to denial and finally profound anger that suddenly burst through his thoughts.

__Okay, that’s it,__ he thought, looking around the area to see what he could do about the given situation.   _ _Time to intervene on my behalf!__

The area was too clean, which meant there was nothing to throw at her to get the little girl’s attention.  Not to mention the idea of doing so would be an unwise one, given that he would be throwing away the element of surprise away, should he miss.  Seeing that there was a railing on a set of staircases that descended down where the little girl lined up at, he backed up and ran towards it, jumping on top of it to give him a boost for the second jump.  It was a completely idiotic idea because there was no solid footing on top and it relied on using all he had to launch himself in the air, but he had to risk it all, lest the woman would be devoured by the girl who pursued her.

Adrenaline instinctively took over Eiji’s body as he seemingly flew in the air.  Jumping off the rail, he shouted out to the girl as he seemingly performed a random kick that hooked her shoulder, which launched her into the river.  He found himself in the air, descending down on the path.  His own trajectory almost caused him to land into the river.  As he landed on the ground, he skidded on the red concrete ground, saved by the railing that prevented him from falling into the river.

__Did I do it,__  he thought, looking at the river for a sign of life or anything, but alas, he shook his head.   _ _No… no…  It’s going to take more than that to bring her down.__

He looked at the woman to his left, stood up, and walked towards her.  It was clear that she wanted him to stay away as he was obviously a stranger in her eyes.  In an attempt to alleviate the situation, he removed the hood he had on and even though she did not stop backing away from him, she did indeed move slowly away from him.

“This area is dangerous at this point,” Eiji began, “you need to get far from here before she recovers.”

“She,” Renko responded, “you mean Rumia?”

“I’ll explain soon enough.  Right now, there’s no time for idle chatter!”

Eiji extended one of his hands to Renko, to which Renko placed her right hand on his.  He pulled her up, her wound stinging as she recovered from the ground.  This forced her to place her left hand on it to keep pressure on it.

“That wound of yours,” he asked, noticing that she was in bad shape to run away, “would it hinder you from fleeing?”

“No,” Renko answered, wincing in pain as she tried to endure it.  “I’ll be fine…”

Eiji looked back at the river to see that Rumia was beginning to emerge out of the surface.

“Good.  You might need to dodge a bit while withdrawing from here.  We don’t have much time now, so get going.  I’ll hold her back to buy you more time to flee.”

He returned his attention to Rumia, who landed back on the red brick road at a fair distance away from him.  Renko limped away, looking back at the strange man for a moment as she continued staggering away a safe distance away from the two.  Knowing that he meant well for her despite the two had just met as strangers, she heeded his words so she could save her own life.

“What gives you the right to disturb my hunt,” Rumia scolded at Eiji, slightly catching her breath as she shot a gaze at him.

“Every right,” he answered. “After all-” He paused for a second as he faced her, thinking of a reason.  “You might be the one who’s been causing the recent accounts of kidnappings, murders, and apparent disappearance of citizens these days.”

Rumia laughed.  “You think I’m behind whatever you’re pursuing, when there are others who are doing far worse than what I’m after,” she asked, slightly giggling at the grey man, “You’ve got th-, Ack!”

Eiji rushed forward and punched her in the face, which did not even faze her one bit.  He followed the attack with a left hook punch and an uppercut, which too proved to be of no avail as she remained unmoved.

“That the best you can do,” she muttered as she looked back down at him, smiling as she silently offering him more chances at striking her.  “Try  _ _harder__ …”

Filled with anger, he continued on with striking her, this time, adding in kicks in his repertoire.  No matter what punch or kick he landed, none of his attacks seemed to be working against her, nor did he feel his strikes making contact when he struck her.  After a few moments of wasted motions occurring on Eiji’s efforts in attacking, Rumia dodged one of his attacks and responded with a grab on his shirt.  She lifted him up and pushed him back, giving him some time to let him regain his balance.

“Try again,” she sighed as she looked at him with a bored expression.

Was she making fun of him?  Why was she making that face now of all times?  Enraged by this, Eiji went on the offense once more.  This time, he added in throws, using the momentum of her body weight as a weapon.  From Judo arm throws to slams, each and every one of his throws executed too proved to be useless as she merely stood up each time he threw her on the ground, unscathed.

“My turn,” Rumia muttered as she immediately flew towards Eiji, performing a tackle onto his abdomen.  He cringed as he knew that he was not completely recovered from the fight before the one he was currently in.  Immediately after, she held onto him as she flew forward and carried him in the air.  Once the two were about ten meters high in the air, she threw him down on the surface, causing him to land on his back.  Shortly after, she flew down towards him and tried landing feet first on his chest, but he quickly rolled to the right, making her land to his left.  He could feel the earth shaking as she landed near his side.

Eiji recovered from the fall and rolled away from her the moment she landed by him, feeling sharp pain shooting through his entire body in the process.  He had taken several beatings before and given more than his opponents, but taking a huge fall was an entirely new experience to him despite his acrobatics training, much more on the fact that his opponent was not just some glass cannon to be underestimated.  As he remained knelt, Rumia charged forward towards him, to which he quickly dived forward at an angle to avoid her.  This caught her off-guard as she saw him seemingly fly by her to the point that she was not paying attention to what she was heading towards.  She crashed on a small tree, causing her to lose her balance and tumble onto the ground upon contact with its skinny trunk.

Heavily breathing, Eiji stood up, facing his opponent once more as Rumia recovered from her crash on the small tree she bumped into.

__Okay,__  he thought, looking at the girl.   _ _Have to think… Clearly, physical attacks do not affect her… or at least, not so much.  So what can I do to turn the situation around without surrender or retreat?__

Surrender meant that the girl would eat him and then go after the injured woman he was protecting, while retreating would be the most unwise decision to make, given her injuries.  Negotiations were also out of the question, since he attacked her first, stating his intent on wanting to finish this battle he began once and for all.  As the little girl turned around and faced him, her skin had turned pale grey; her eyes were suddenly pitch black with a red glow dot on each eye socket.  She grinned at him, showing off her sharp teeth to him.  He took a step back, feeling an aura so familiar to what he experienced in the past illuminating from his opponent.

__This aura... No, this feeling…  It’s all too familiar; as if it happened before!_ _

He stood his ground, knowing that his fate was seemingly sealed.  However, instead of standing there like a target shivering in fear, he began shifting his stance from one that was fighting to a rather strange stance, extending his arms both behind and in front of him, the right hand with the palm facing forward towards his opponent, while the left curved facing him.  He had no experience in using soft style martial arts, specifically Tai-Chi Chuan, but he had fought a competitor that used this particular fighting style in the last martial arts tournament he participated in, giving him an idea to imitate the movements.  Thinking that her prey was extending their arms out for her to easily grab and eat, she flew forward and opened her mouth, drooling in the process as she flew towards him.  

“Gotcha,” Eiji exclaimed at her as he swung both his arms near him, moving his overall stance around; his left hand above his forehead, his right behind him and his legs crossing one another.  As Rumia flew forward, mouth wide open in an attempt to take a desperate bite on him, he took a step to his left with his right foot behind it, spinning around to avoid her attack.  He then motioned his left arm under her face, throwing her guard off as she felt his backhand making contact with her abdomen.  He had barely dodged her attack and responded with a left backhand to her stomach, quickly switching his right hand from an open palm to a closed fist, striking it just above his left hand.  In quick succession, he threw an additional three punches near her abdomen in a circular pattern, ending the barrage with a right stepping palm crush at the center target he created with his previous strikes.

Rumia was knocked back at the six quickly successive strikes this man had performed on her, rolling on the sloped hill to alleviate the fall.  She stood up, touching her abdomen and then looked at him.  His previous attempts at trying to physically harm him had little to no effect on her at all.  However, something felt odd within her as she recovered from this attack he had performed.

“Hah,” she retorted, stepping forward towards him. “Do you really think that would work on me?”

Eiji stepped back, minding his distance against the girl.  He couldn’t believe it.  Not even that technique he had used had no effect on her.  The girl began to pick up her pace, when all of the sudden, she seemingly tripped upon herself, almost falling on the ground face flat, had she not instinctively hover to break her fall.  She looked at herself and noticed bruises beginning to show up on her arms.

“Wh-What’s happening to me,” Rumia said, suddenly feeling pain emerging from her head.

Pain not only surged from her head, but through her body as well.  Bruises began to show up on her face and her arms began to swell.  Her body began to surge in pain and eventually, the number of attacks that Eiji had previously performed on her before the technique he recently landed on her abdominal area broke her hovering state, making her crash onto the ground.  She curled up into a ball, feeling the sudden surges of pain shoot throughout her body, which became excruciatingly unbearable to endure.  She let out an agonizing cry, looking at him.  The strange feeling now became apparent as she felt something rather warm emerging out of her mouth.

Eiji was stunned at what he had witnessed in front of him.  He saw Rumia puke out blood after she curled up and screamed in agony.  As he saw Rumia agonizing in pain, he looked at his hands.  Whatever this technique he used, it must have been connected to what the Tai-chi practitioner was using.  He looked back at her and clenched one of his fists back at her.

“That’s right,” he confidently told her, taking a step forward, assuming a martial arts stance. “You better retreat now, or else, you might not live to see another day.”

Rumia slowly stood up from her curled-up position, taking the pain slowly as it kept surging through her body.  She struggled to maintain balance as she stood, continually coughing up blood.  The sudden shock of pain and humiliation her opponent caused to her subconsciously crept through her body and mind.  She looked at him, now her satisfying grin replaced with a rather physically weak and emotional frown.

“I-I’ll have my revenge someday,” she quietly spat as she began to hover off the ground and fly off to the distance of the area.  As she did so, her flight balance was rather unstable as this unexpected pain continued to shoot throughout her body.  Next time, she would not underestimate an outsider of Gensokyo as she did so today…

 

Eiji saw her flying off to the distance.  Was luck by his side this time around?  He lowered his hands and knelt down, feeling that the painful shock from the attack she had performed on him had not subsided at all.  He closed his eyes, took several deep breaths and exhales, and stood back up, feeling that the pain did not go away.  Deep breathing seemed to be not much for recovery, but it would have to do for now until he found the woman from earlier and checked up on her to see if she was all right.  He turned around and followed the worn-out red path that lay ahead of him.

As he continued forward on the path, he noticed a blood trail ahead.  Though he was anxious where it would lead him, his battle wounds had slowed him down to a slow jog, forcing him to take his time towards it.  As he approached it, he knelt down to take a close look at the trail to identify it.  He saw a book near the beginning of its mark, to which he approached it and picked it up, pocketing it in his hoodie.  Looking ahead, he saw a woman at a distance lying down on the grass holding onto her leg.  It must have been her and judging from the blood trail and the book she dropped along the way, she must have be incapacitated by her wounds.

Renko looked at the stars as she was lying down on the grass, weakly laughing.  She realized that she could move no more.  She had her left hand on the wound, trying to apply pressure on it to prevent the bleeding but alas, it still continued to bleed out.  Her right hand was on her forehead, bloody handprints marked on her face.  Her journal was lost as she dropped it when she was drawing distance away from the fight.

“Oh heavens,” she weakly told herself, trying to control her breathing while looking up at the rather dancing stars in the sky. “Why must today be so unfortunate for me to live through..?”

Eiji had just arrived in time as she said those words.  Judging how short the trail was, he believed that he was not too late in saving her life.  He knelt down near her right, assessing the situation at hand.

“You’re going to be all right,” he told her, checking her body to see where the wounds were located at, “hang in there…”

Renko looked at Eiji to see an image of Maribel replacing him.  She began to weakly laugh at him in relief.

“I-Is that you, Mari… be… i,” Renko weakly asked Eiji as he checked her wounds while she raised one of her hands towards his face.

“Mari-eh,” Eiji responded, looking at her in confusion.  He had not heard that name from anyone else for more than a year or so ago from a woman named ‘Renko Usami.’

“It is you, Merry,” Renko weakly exclaimed, trying to touch his face.  At this point, her head began to feel rather light as if she was flying in mid-air as her eyes began to feel heavy.  She began to close his eyes and lower her hand in order to catch some rest.

“Hey,” Eiji quickly responded, touching her hand with his. “Stay awake, Renko!”

Her vision began to darken as she weakly smiled, blankly smiling back at Maribel, who she thought this person she now faced was…


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jun should have went with Renko to help her investigate on her lead, but alas, he practically ran out of money after their meal in the Satellite Cafe Terrace. Now regretting not stopping her, he tried to get some sleep, awaiting her safe return. However, he was met with a phone call from his long time martial arts friend, Eiji Kuroda, who rescued his roommate at night from danger she encountered during her investigation. Wanting to know if she was all right, he was now forced to spend the last of his money to check on her at the hospital she was currently staying at.
> 
> Renko missed Maribel dearly, dreaming about the times their investigations were proven fruitful. They saw a different kind of Japan, to which she now dreamed of a time they went to a temple. However, this dream was cut short by a woman that looked similar to Maribel, the very woman she encountered earlier. Waking up in a hospital and noticing Jun entering the room she stayed in, she wondered if last night was all a dream. Her confirmation was proven false when he told her that his friend saved and paid her hospital bill, to which a lead began establishing itself in front of her eyes...

Regret filled Jun’s mind as he stared at the empty bed across him as he remained laying on his own bed, while the moon lit near her desk illuminating her side of their dorm room.

He shouldn’t have let Renko go investigate on her own, especially at night.  Alas, though, he practically ran out of money from the café they went to earlier.  He rolled to his left, facing the ceiling and sighing in disbelief as he was worried for his roommate.  Lately, she had been dropping some of her college time off in search for Maribel Hearn, and the worst happened around two months ago when she was gone for thirty days when she had college finals to complete at the time.  Though he wanted to join in on the investigation in order to keep an eye for her, she refused his offer, as she stated to him, “This is... something I have to complete on my own.”

The sound of the clock ticking in the dark filled the silence as Jun tried his best to sleep through it.  He had tried to call Eiji earlier to talk about her and how to deal with the situation he was in, but given that he didn’t answer his phone, he seemed to be not at home at the moment.  This was all too strange, since his old friend was generally working on his projects back at home around six to nine, while winding down sometime after completing his projects during weekends.  Did he go shopping for groceries, or did something grim happen to him?  Contemplating about it within his thoughts, he shifted his body to look at the wall and later got up from what little sleep he could gather up, making his way to his desk.

As he approached his desk and sat on the chair, his holo-phone lying near one of his Hatsune Miku figures to the side began to vibrate and ring out one of his favorite songs from his favorite vocaloid.  He grabbed his phone, checking on who was calling him.  On the screen it read ‘Eiji Kuroda,’ to which he seemed to be calling via audio-only option.

_That’s weird,_ he thought.  W _hy is he using audio only?  Generally, our phone calls feature the two of us using the holographic feature of our phones.  I should probably not answer it, since it might be a stranger calling the wrong number._

Just then, the phone stopped ringing and then began to ring once more.  Either Eiji was being impatient of Jun not answering his phone, or he was actually confirming that it was him calling his friend up.

“Yes, Yes,” he told himself, unlocking his phone as he reassured that he was indeed calling him.  “Be patient, my friend!”

He tapped on the green button displayed on the screen and put the phone up to his ear, laying back on his chair and slightly spun around.

“Hello,” he told the recipient, knowing that Eiji was on the other side of the phone.

“Ah, hi,” Eiji responded, “how are you, Jun?”

“I’m doing fine, how about you?”

“I’ve been better…  I ran into someone today.  A woman if you may ask.”

Jun hesitated for a moment and then smiled.  “You’ve been hitting on women these days, haven’t you,” he jokingly asked him.

“No, dude,” Eiji answered, sighing in slight frustration.  “You know that I’ve been busy with everything that’s going on in my life.  This is pretty serious, you know…”

“Oh, you think everything is serious…”

Jun cleared his thoughts for a few seconds, knowing that the tone of Eiji’s voice actually meant something grim must have happened.  He could hear the sounds of zippers and packing happening on his phone, which must have confirmed the mood.

“What are you doing at your apartment,” Jun asked him.

“Packing up my belongings,” Eiji lowly answered, “This month is the time when the landlord and his staff clean the entire apartments.  I plan to move back to my parents’ house for the time being until my apartment is cleaned.”

“Ah, I see,” Jun told him.  Now he knew why Eiji could not pick up his phone earlier today.  Still, he mentioned just now that he faced something at night before packing up for relocation, which piqued his curiosity.

 “So, what happened earlier,” he asked his friend.

Eiji stopped packing up and picked up his phone and sat on his bed, deactivating audio-only mode and activating holo-mode on their conversation.  A small sound alerted Jun to set his phone in front of him, to which a small 3-D blue figure of his friend popped out of the small screen.  Assuming that this mini-version of Eiji was sitting in mid-air, Jun assumed that his caller was sitting on a bed or couch.  Additionally, he was in some blood-stained sweats, which caused worry to develop within Jun’s thoughts.

“The woman I met,” he began, sitting on his bed. “Well, she- got jumped by several members of the Yakuza.  I intervened and was able to save her from them, in which I brought her to a hospital to be taken care of.”

“I see,” Jun responded, his mouth dropped as he saw his friend stained with blood around his clothes, as well as what he just heard.  “Wait, the Yakuza?”

“Uh huh,” Eiji answered. “I want to know if you knew this woman I rescued.  She seems to resemble someone I met from long ago.”

Jun raised his head and leaned back on his chair, maintaining composure from shock.

“You’re not talking about Elza Shannon, are you,” he guessed.

“Nope; not her,” Eiji responded. “This woman is a brunette, not blonde…”

Jun’s eyes widened as he heard him mention that she had brown hair.  “Go on…”

“She had on a white suit top and a tie, with a black long skirt.  Her left leg was cut when the Yakuza were trying to grab her.  She’s at-”

“Did she mention her name to you,” Jun asked Eiji, standing up from his bed.  Anxiety filled within him as the possibility that Renko encountered trouble at night in Tokyo was apparently so.

“No, not at all,” Eiji answered. “Though she did mention someone named ‘Merry.’  That name somehow sounds familiar to me…”

Jun couldn’t believe it.  Somehow, Eiji found Renko during the night and was able to rescue her from certain danger by chance.  Still, something did not add up to what he stated: why the Yakuza was interested with Renko?

“Hello, you still there?”

“A-ah, yes I am…  Do you know where she’s at right now?”

“She’s at Taito-ku in Dōzen Hospital.  You sound wrong, Jun.  Do you know her?”

“She is...  a friend to me, Eiji.”  Jun turned on his dormitory light and checked the clock.  It was nearly 4 am in the morning.  Was he really out for that long?  Much more, why did Eiji wait for so long, yet so early in the morning to call him?  Still, he was glad to not reveal that she was indeed his roommate, as the rules of today’s dormitory differed from the time that Eiji was attending this university.

“I see,” Eiji responded, standing on the bed.  “Regardless, we have to meet soon ASAP.  I have some things to give to you that might belong to her.  A lot of stuff happened last night and I really need to meet, now.”

“Is there something going on? Hey wai-”

Eiji pressed a red button, seeing the 3-D design of Jun shut off as he hung his conversation between the two, and pocketed his holo-phone in one of his jean pockets.  He didn’t have the time for idle chatter.  After changing clothes and slightly washing himself, he finished packing up his clothes and whatever he needed to bring with him.  All that was left was to pack up the project he was working on in his workshop.  He headed off into the hallway, then to the living room to open a door that was behind the sofa, revealing his workshop from within.  He looked to his left, seeing a set of padded leather armor that was adorned on a stand.  A fragmented mask, patterned with a straight line on the lower half and a circle on the upper center of it, hung on the neck area of the armor set.  Underneath the armor was a white kendogi, emulating as if someone was wearing it.  Each time he looked at the mask, a feeling of nothingness flowed through him, helping him calm down when times were rough.

Eiji was not after this armor set, however, since he would obviously stand out, should he wear it around Tokyo.  Instead, what he was after in this room was the object on the workshop bench: an unfinished wooden straight sword.  He had explained long ago to Jun that he was crafting a training weapon so that the two can practice Kenjutsu together.  Seeing that he was moving out of his apartment for quite a while, he took the sword, placed it in a blue sword bag that he took out from underneath the workbench, and turned around to make his way out of his room.  He would have taken some of his tools with him from his workshop here as well, but he knew that he had the necessary tools to add the finishing touches on this sword at his parents’ residence located in the Bunkyo ward of Tokyo.

Eiji walked back to his room to gather what he packed up for departure, bagging his blood-stained sweats in a black plastic bag. Since he had no time for proper cleaning, he was forced to keep what he was wearing last night to wash them at his parents’ place once he arrived there.  He loathed the scent of blood lingering around him, but he hoped that nothing nobody would suspect him as he relocated to his parents’ place.

About two days ago, he made arrangements to temporarily leave this apartment in the care of the apartment landlord for four weeks, for the landlord and his staff to do a yearly cleanup of the entire apartment complex.  When he told his parents about making room for him to stay at their place, they first questioned him of why he was moving back, until he told them the situation at the apartment.  They understood and told him that they would prepare room for him by the time he arrived there.

Like the previous years, he was going to miss this place for a while, since it kept him safe and sound for the past four years, surviving through the uncertain life he ventured through on his own.  Carrying a large bag and two small bags strapped around him, a sword bag to his back and a small backpack that had his journal and martial art scroll in it strapped around his arm, he made his way to the front door to see that mushroom hat he found about a week ago.  For a second, he froze as he gazed at it, which his mind made him snap back at the sight of it.

“I-it can’t be,” he told himself as he approached the hanger, taking the hat off the rack.  “I…  I better give Renko’s hat to Jun so he could return it to her.”

Hanging her supposed hat on his sword bag, he proceeded his way out of the apartment, turning the knob to open the door.  Walking through the opened door, he closed it behind him and turned around.  He took out a key from his right pocket from his jeans, locked the door, and pocketing it once more, looking at his apartment.  Though it was invisible to the eyes of a human these days, he saw a sigil of a circled mistletoe on the door, which gave off a bad omen to him when he arrived back home after delivering Renko to the nearby hospital for treatment.  The sigil reminded him of that little girl from the video feed he was reviewing earlier today, who must have placed this sigil here after failing to lure him out from his house when he did not answer the door.  Knowing that he took care of the little girl for now, he assumed that this bought himself some time to make preparations for a counter-response before she recovered from her wounds.

_I will avenge you, Elza,_ Eiji thought to himself as he looked at the sigil that flickered on the door.  _Just wait until I am prepared to face her once more…_

He turned to the right, facing the end of the hall, seeing a set of staircases ahead of him.  Carrying his bags and the hat with him as he made his way down the apartment complex, he marched his way onto the streets towards Dōzen Hospital to the arranged meeting with Jun nearby the hospital.  In his current state, he was not ready to face the little girl, especially if they met again too soon.  As he drew distance from the door, the mistletoe sigil on the door began to fade away.

 

It took Jun a while to reach Minowa Station, Tokyo, but he hoped that the money he spent getting here was worth the trip.  Right now, he was pissed off, for Eiji suddenly hung up on him during their call.  Holding onto a small bag that contained a pair of Renko’s spare clothing, he made his way out of the subway train and into the station lobby, taking out his holo-phone and tapped on the maps app, typing down the hospital Eiji planned to meet him at.  As it was buffering up, he looked at the corner of his phone to see the time.  It was about 6:26 AM; about an hour late for him to meet up with his friend.

“Aiyah,” he silently whispered, as he quickly made his way out of the station.

His holo phone finally uploaded the location of the hospital, projecting out directions above the screen, to which he made his way to the destination in due time once he got out of the station.  The sun was beginning to shine its rays among the city, as the chill of the night was beginning to be replaced with the warmth of day.  Unlike Eiji, who liked the cold of the night, Jun preferred this warmth most of the times, as it felt as if new beginnings shined the way to a new venture in life.   Along the way to the hospital, he encountered a man wearing a black jacket and jeans, who had bags lying on the floor on a children’s playground, leaning on a panda bear spring rider, looking at him.  On one of his hands, he held onto a black mushroom hat that was strikingly similar to the one that Renko wore most of the time, while another was a water bottle and a doctor’s note.

“Yo, Jun,” the man said to him, waving his free hand to get his attention.

“Is that you, Eiji,” Jun asked him, being wary that this person might be a stranger considering that it was still dark outside.

“Yes it is, Jun.  There are a few things we need to talk before you advance to the hospital.”

Calming down, Jun began walking to him, minding the fencing area the playground barred from the two until he found an opening that he could enter in.

“Well, start with the good news then,” he told him, sighing as he leaned on a panda spring rider near Eiji.

Eiji walked a bit, hesitating for a brief moment to gather his thoughts.  “I paid our hospital bill, so everything is all right on the financial end,” he told Jun, making him not worry much about him.

“Your bills were combined,” Jun asked him.

“Yup; Apparently, I’m suffering from a minor cracked rib as well.  I paid for some painkillers for myself.  Fortunately, we did not suffer wounds deep enough to cripple the two of us for the long run, though we’ll be injured for a few weeks.”

He laughed a bit until he coughed, dropping Renko’s hat on the ground.  He cleared his throat and took in deep breaths to regain control of his breathing.  Jun motioned himself off the spring rider, to be stopped by Eiji, who raised his hand in front of him to signal him back.  He took out a bottle of painkillers in one of his pockets from his jacket, popped the lid opened, shook a few pills out of the bottle on his freed hand, and began consuming the pills with a bottle of water to wash it down his throat after putting away the pill capsule.  After consumption, he sighed in relief as the pain around his chest began to subside.

“You all right,” Jun asked him.  “Hope you recover soon, man.  I hear the Yakuza will try to find and get back at people who harm their members at all costs.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, since I’m relocating my current whereabouts for a time,” Eiji quietly replied.  “Anyways, your friend should be on the third floor in the hospital.  I placed your name and phone number as one of the contacts to call if anything should happen to her, so the staff should give you access to which room number she will be in.  As for me, I need to bring my bags to my parents’ home and start settling in before my injuries worsen.”

He knelt down and picked up Renko’s hat.  Jun looked at him at first, thinking whether if he should help him get to his parents’ apartment or to check up if Renko was all right.  His gaze began to wander off to the left when Eiji suddenly threw Renko’s hat at him.

“Oh, almost forgot,” Eiji said to him while the hat was in mid-air.  “Catch!”  Jun reflexively caught the hat with his right hand, not noticing the business card attached underneath the ribbon.  Eiji stood up after he strapped the bags onto his shoulders, while Jun looked back at him after quickly recognizing the owner’s hat.

“Where did you find her hat?”

“About a week ago in Higurashi Park, it was stuck on a tree as I was returning from work after a snowy day.  If I would guess what happened, the hat must have flown off of her head when the wind picked up when she was there the day before.  Anyways, catch you later!”

Eiji walked to his bags and carried them once more, while Jun looked at him to make sure his health was well for now.  While Eiji made his exit out of the area, Jun turned his attention to his holo phone that he held on his left hand to see which direction was the hospital at while holding onto Renko’s hat with his right hand, making his exit out of the playground to continue his journey to the hospital. He looked at the hat while walking, hoping that Renko was fine.  However, the thought that Eiji was injured made him feel guilty about what he recently went through.

“Damnit Eiji,” he muttered to himself, turning back to see him at a distance.  He made his way to his hurt friend.  Seeing if Renko was fine was first for him, but knowing that she would be resting to recover from her own injuries if he visited her now, he knew that he had time to help his friend out, especially when he was in no condition to carry that much weight by himself.

 

_"… That's great news! That man-made object is real!!" Maribel told Renko, responding to the news that her friend told her about one of the Izanagi objects found in one of the methane hydrate drilling sites in the Sea of Japan._

_"Huh? Merry, are you a little off today?” Renko asked her, feeling concern for her.  “You keep switching from looking worried to being full of confidence at a moment's notice..."_

_"The truth is, I've got one of those fragments of the Izanagi Plate!"_

_"Huh? Wh-what are you talking about? Are you sure there isn't something wrong with you?"_

_Originally, Renko was to pick up Maribel at a sanitarium located in one of the mountains of Nagano Province after she was cleared from quarantine.  An unknown disease from a wound Maribel took seemingly struck her when the two traveled to the Ame-no-Torifune Shrine a year ago.  She indeed retrieved her from the place, but shortly after, Maribel wanted to travel to the Zenkou-ji temple before heading home, to which Renko agreed upon after considering this visit as a Sealing Club activity.  Upon arrival, the two made no hesitation to travel to this temple in an interest to investigate a scar left by an earthquake during a Buddhist ceremony held long ago. This scar was mainly feared by many who entered the tourist attraction, giving it the name of ‘Earthquake Pillar,’ by later generations of the people in Japan.  It was dried out and twisted over time. Maribel saw a different world unfold within her mind as she looked at the pillar, herself._

_Renko looked on as Merry was getting all excited about the dried out pillar.  She kept on muttering things like “Izanagi was real..." on and on. It was as if Merry was going off somewhere all by herself and she began to feel left out of their conversation.  Come to think of it, recently it felt as if Merry's abilities were getting stronger. At first they had fun enough with just being able to catch a glimpse of strange new worlds, but now they were bringing things back from those worlds as if it were nothing._

_In those strange worlds, they had sometimes encountered beings like youkai. To her, those were just figments of her imagination, but to Merry, they were real.  She couldn't help thinking that Merry was on the same level as those youkai._

_“Is there something wrong,” she asked Renko, turning around from the view of the pillar, approaching her, and placed her hands onto her shoulder._

_“…what?”  Renko sickly answered back, suddenly feeling dizzy. “I’m fine.  Why di- hey!”_

_She saw not Maribel, but a woman she recently saw under a bridge, holding onto her shoulder with her left hand.  Waving her umbrella she held onto with her right hand, a gap opened up at its tip.  This woman then threw Renko into the portal, which she suddenly felt gravity pulling on her as she began to fall._

Renko sprung up; suddenly awakened from slumber.  She was not falling down, but rather, was lying on a soft bed.  She felt groggy as her sight adjusted to the room she was in.  After regaining her sight, she groaned, regaining her thoughts on a number of strange dreams, ranging from a flying little girl in hot pursuit of herself near a bridge to one of her last adventures with Maribel several years ago.  She felt slight pain shooting from her leg.  As she grabbed her blanket and looked at her legs, she noticed that she was dressed in a patient’s garb and that her left thigh was bandaged up properly.  She released the blanket, letting it fall back onto her legs as she scooted back on the bed until she was on a comfortable sitting position with her pillow behind her.

“How did things end up like this,” Renko quietly told herself, trying to gather her thoughts about what she did last night that caused her to become injured.

She scoped around the room to see where she was at.  There were not many pictures, nor plants around the room.  Light tried piercing through the opaque curtains that covered the window, but it was to no avail as the curtains blocked it from entering.  A shelf was located directly at the other side and a couch was to her right, to which her journal was lying on it.  A few tubes were attached onto her left arm, which lead to an IV machine pump.  Assuming that the bed was clearly lined up in the middle of the room, with the restroom located to her left, a television was displayed at the corner of the bed attached to the ceiling, and that she was pretty much strapped onto a medical machine, she figured that she was in a hospital.

A sudden wave of surprise and curiosity came to Renko when the sound of a door knob sounded at a far corner.  The door opened, revealing a nurse and a black-haired individual entering the room.  To whom her visitor or savior was, she wondered, as the last thing she remembered was being carried by a black-haired individual with hazel eyes, who seemingly had Maribel’s voice.

“Here you are, sir,” the nurse said to Jun, leading him in the room.

“Thanks,” Jun told the nurse, who was holding onto a set of paperwork, her hat, and a small plastic bag as he walked inside the room.

“If you need anything, just give us a call and we’ll do what we can to assist,” the nurse told him, then bowed and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Jun turned to Renko, who was watching the two.  Realizing that the person who entered the room was her roommate, she slouched back on the bed, feeling a bit disappointed that it was someone she was familiar with and not her savior.  Jun walked to the couch that was beside Renko and sat down on it after taking the book and placing it in Renko’s hat and setting it on his lap, looking at the paperwork given to him from the receptionist.  Eiji was not lying after all, for he too placed his contact information below his.  Not to mention the fact that he paid the bill in whole.  To his surprised, he first perceived his friend to be one who would not save up emergency funds, but this act of kindness he just performed now carried a different opinion about him.

Silence filled the room as Renko looked at Jun for a short time, realizing that he did not notice her awake.  He held onto a small bag, which she assumed that it was her spare clothes.  After a short time, she gazed around in search for a clock.  To her dismay, there was no clock hanging around, nor were the window curtains unveiled.  She wondered how long she had been out, given the fact that she was strapped onto an IV machine pump for perhaps a long time.

“What ti-”

Jun took out his phone and checked the time, then left it on as he placed it on the table and returned to examine at the paperwork.  Several digits hovered above the screen, as it revealed the time.  Seeing that it was **2:17 PM** and the date was the **20 th of February**, Renko sat back on the bed, both relieved and anxious at the fact that she was out for several hours.  At least she did not have to worry about how long she was away from the university, given that it was the weekend.

“Ah, my clothes,” she exclaimed, pulling the blanket near her.  “What happened to them?”

Jun turned his head towards Renko, just realizing that she was already up.

“Wah, you’re up,” Jun responded, almost jumping back at her sudden shout.  “Th-they’re in tatters when I saw them… Something terrible must have happened last night, given your current state in the hospital.”

“Really… I see…”

Being chased by that little girl was not a dream after all.  She slumped back on her bed, sighing in disbelief.  She looked at the papers Jun was holding.

“What are you looking at,” Renko asked Jun, trying to stare at the papers he held onto.

“Oh, it’s your hospital bill and paperwork,” Jun surprisingly answered, looking back at the paper.  Once he was done skimming through it, he brought it towards Renko.  “Want to take a look at it?”

“Sure,” Renko answered, taking the paperwork on her right hand and looked at it.  She would have hated to pay the bill, but to her surprise, someone had prepaid her hospital bill in full.  She closely examined through it to see any clue about it, noticing a name she did not recognize.

“Who is this Eiji Kuroda?”

“He’s my martial arts friend I told you about.  Apparently, he’s claims to be the one that saved your life last night and paid the hospital bill.”

“Eh?  Is he still around?”

“Unfortunately, he had to move to his parents’ for a while.  If memory serves me well, it has something to do about his apartment landlord doing a yearly cleaning session.”

“I see.”  Renko continued to look through the details of the paperwork and then handed it back to Jun.  While Jun took the paperwork from her, she looked at his lap to see her hat upside down with her journal in it.  A sense of relief rose in her as she saw Jun had her hat on his lap.  “How did you find my hat by the way?”

Jun looked down at the hat and book on his lap.  “Oh, umm, Eiji found it in a park earlier this week.  He told me that it was stuck on some tree branches and that he almost ran into it.”  Knowing that it belonged to Renko, he gave her the hat and book in silence.

She took the hat in her hands with the slightly blood-stained journal inside it.  This ‘Eiji’ Jun spoke of must have done a lot for a stranger like her, considering the fact that he saved her from certain death, paid the hospital bill, and wanted to return her hat at the end of the day.  Then again, he might have summoned the wind to take the hat for himself, given that it was silly imagining him doing so...

Considering the fact that any other normal person would have probably kept the hat for themselves and mind their own business, he must have had a kind heart saving a woman like her, while trying to find the owner of the hat in his own terms.  She examined her hat if there was anything was wrong with it on it, noticing a business card attached near the tied ribbon.  She took it out and examined the card, seeing what seemed to be either his work or cell phone number on the center.

On the design of the card, something had caught her eye as she examined it thoroughly.  There were four diamonds in the center surrounded by a solid ring transparently printed slightly to the right of the card.  Renko saw this symbol somewhere before.  She thought a bit, closing her eyes and placed her head near her face to concentrate in her memories.  Then, her mind clicked as if her mind clarified a riddle yet to be solved.

“Did you notice something,” Jun asked Renko, witnessing that her eyes widened at the sight of the card.

Renko looked back at Jun, staring blankly at him.

“I’m not sure,” she answered. “Everything I find tends to not make sense, and therefore, these clues seem to be vague to me...”

Renko stared at her hat, flipping it over to drop the book on her lap, letting it fall on her legs while pulling herself back to a sitting position on the bed.  She sighed in relief, fortunate enough that no blood had stained her pages when she dropped it moments before she was incapacitated by blood loss.  To confirm her suspicion about the symbol, she opened her journal and flipped through many pages until she found a similar symbol drawn on one of them.  It was on a page that she wrote about revisiting a place her and Maribel went to after one of their first major discoveries about a distorted boundary in a graveyard several years ago.  Her eyes widened as she saw that this symbol on the business matched the drawing she made on that journal entry made roughly a year ago.

Though she was back to square one in her investigation for Maribel, some of the clues she had gathered throughout the years began to appear less cryptic than usual as she stared at the transparent symbol of the Takeda Clan and Eiji’s name and business phone number on the card.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Arc 1: Fateful Memories COMPLETE-


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After three weeks of recovering from her wounds, Renko continues on her investigation, now following a lead involving a Takeda Salvager Junker named Eiji Kuroda who saved her from the hands of a youkai. To test him, she brings along an ancient item that belonged to a descendant of her, which he proves that he is somewhat similar to her in terms of having knowledge of mythical existence. At the same time, Eiji deals with his past regrets, which consistently torments him from using Martial Arts to its full potential...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Arc 2: Memorial Reminiscence, START!-

Her black mushroom hat, now returned back on her head, the brunette-haired woman began knocking at the apartment door labeled ‘529,’ feeling anxious about her first actual meeting with her savior from that night.

Renko made contact with Eiji Kuroda during her recovery in the hospital thanks in part of the business card on her hat.  He then gave her his cell phone number so they could privately talk to one another.  She had arranged a business appointment with him in three weeks from that time due to the fact that he too was suffering through injuries like her.  Today was their scheduled meeting

She had done the research about the place he worked for before calling him no less.  The line of work his occupation dealt was intriguing, for this company was specialized in restoring both antiques and old technology within their own respective lines of departments.  Seeing that she was carrying an antique in a small leather case on her left hand that was probably in need of inspection, she thought maybe it would pique his interest to examine it.  This also gave her a window of opportunity to recruit him in her Sealing Club and find out the reason why he saved her two weeks ago from certain death.

The door opened to reveal a blonde woman with a blue hair band on her head.  She seemed to be around her early 20’s, despite acting distinctively older for a woman her age.  She looked at Renko, becoming quite curious of who this woman who knocked on this door was.

“Can I help you,” she asked Renko, completely opening the door to reveal herself to her.

“Ah yes,” Renko replied, “I’m looking for Eiji Kuroda.  Do you know where he’s at?”

“Hmm, Eiji… Kuroda…  He did go with my husband to the rooftop to practice Kendo.  I still don’t get why those two find the time to fight one another every year.  I loathe them doing so…”

“And why do you need to see him,” a middle-aged man asked Renko, arriving from one of the corners of the hallway, carrying a kendo stick inversed on his right shoulder to show that he meant no harm to the residents of this apartment.

Renko took out her holo-phone and began tapping on it, revealing a business arrangement form from the Takeda Salvagers of Shinjuku, Tokyo on the phone’s projection.  Assuming that the two who were questioning her intent in being here were his parents, she presented the business note to the two.

“Here,” she said, showing the man the form as his parents examined it.  “He told me to meet him here today around this time, according to the appointment we arranged.”

He took his time to look at the projected form that was pushed by Renko to him, making sure that it was the actual form that the company used, while the blonde woman went back inside to grab something.  If there was anything that his parents did not like, it was strangers, and though Renko seemed to be a cute woman in her own right, she was no less a stranger that had arrived in front of their doorstep.  After examining the projected form, he pushed it back to her phone, sending it back in the screen.

“A client of the Takeda Salvagers, eh,” he told himself, nodding to himself to reaffirm the details.  “Well, he did state that he would be in the rooftop for a while.  Why don’t you stay here for a while and wait for him?”

Renko hesitated for a bit, thinking about the offer, then shook her head.  “No,” she answered.  “I prefer to meet him now, seeing that it’s urgent…”

 _A direct one, I see._ He thought, looking back at her. “Ah…  Oh, I forgot.  Here’s the key to the rooftop.  The door locks itself when it closes behind those who enter it.  You’ll need it to exit the place.  Do bring him back home when you’re done with your business arrangement.”

He gave Renko a small key before she turned around to head off to the roof, to which she took it in her hands and pocketed it in the chest pocket on her shirt.  Just then, the blonde woman showed up with two cans of juice.

“I’m sure that he would also be thirsty as well,” she told Renko, handing her one of the cans.  “Give this to him when you reach the rooftop.”

Renko took a can of juice and thanked the two for showing kindness to her, turning around and made way to the roof where business awaited.  The two looked at her in the hall as the blonde woman gave her husband the other can.  He took it in his hands, popping it open and began to take a swig, finishing it in several gulps.  Shortly after, he leaned his back on the wall, holding onto his right abdomen side with his hand.

“Eiji struck you hard once again, right Kyushichi-san,” she asked him.

“That he did,” Kyushichi answered, wincing in pain as he balanced back up.  “He’s close to restoring his martial arts training to what it used to be years ago.  In fact, he might have exceeded his past self.  Not to mention, he handcrafted a weapon made from materials found in the North American branch of this agency.”

“Is that so?  That’s rather unusual of him… I wonder what he plans on doing with it.”

She placed her head on his shoulder, moving close and wrapped her arms around his right arm.

“She would probably make a good partner for Eiji,” the blonde woman told him as she laid her head on her shoulders.

“What makes you say that, Alice,” Kyushichi asked her, softly laying his head on her’s.

“Well, she’s incredibly smart for a female human her age,” Alice answered, letting out a small hum.  “Not to mention the fact that she kind of reminds me of the previous girl who visited your son back then…  The two would have been a good match had they advanced forward in their relationship together.”

“I don’t know about that...  She is, after all, into occultism.  I fear she might convert him to it…  Ah, he’s all grown up at this point.  I’m sure he’ll use good judgement in conversing with her.”  He turned to the apartment door as Alice kept her arms wrapped around his, wincing at the pain on his side.  Letting him go as they approached it, she opened the door for him, a small doll with a ribbon behind its hair waited for the two at the other side, floating in mid-air.

“Let’s fix you up, then.  He must have done a number on you this time around.”

“Yes.”

The two walked back into their apartment room, closing the door behind them.

 

Eiji remembered a time when holding a blade similar to the one he had just crafted: a time when he was apprehended at an unknown training facility.  Around him, imaginary opponents from that time tried to surround him, which he responded by moved sideways to prevent being encircled.  He tightly gripped the sword on his hands, slowly changing stances as he paced around the wide area around him.  Two of his opponents charged and began committing a strike upon him, to which he responded by blocking both blades and cutting through them in succession.  The two disappeared, to which his attention was brought upon a third opponent who attempted to stab him from behind.  He quickly hopped to his right, and ran the blade through his imaginary opponent’s back.  These opponents came from all sorts of angles and gave him no rest, but he was able to stand fast against their continual assault with their imaginary body parts scattered around him, disappearing shortly after.

A crowd of twenty-five opponents engaged Eiji and merely a third of them remained standing before him.  Two of them cautiously advanced towards him and began swinging their blades at the lone swordsman, clashing swords between two parties.  Eventually, the two gave into his counter-responses, which he effortlessly ran his blade through the two.  Three more opponents jumped above him and struck their blades on his as he executed an overhead block, forcing him to kneel on the ground.   Angling his sword to his left, he diverted their weight to his side and sliced through one of them through their abdomen and followed the motion with a quick swipe, cleaving through another opponent.

As he began his assault on the third opponent, the opponent deflected Eiji’s blade, effectively knocking him back.  It then rushed forward and motioned a sideway cut, which he counter-deflected it.  Exploiting how his opponent staggered from deflection, he rushed forward and locked swords, pushing his opponent down on the floor and swiftly struck it with an upward slash.  It dissipated, to which the remaining three opponents stood shaken, looking at him with awe.

 _That’s right,_ he thought, remembering what he told them, _charge at me and you’ll meet a similar fate like these fools around me._

This angered two of them, to which one of them disappeared.  The third was rattled by what he told them.  Instead of twirling his blade to continue intimidating his opponents like he did so last time, he readied his sword, knowing that one of them disappeared behind him in an effort to cut through him.

_Too slow!_

Blocking the cut by shifting his blade over himself to guard his back, Eiji responded thusly with an overhead chop, which cut through whoever was passing to his right.  The opponent disappeared, which he began charging at the remaining opponents.  The one who still stood fast against him tried to block his path and placed his weapon up to obstruct him, but he used the obstructor’s stance to his advantage, jumping off his knelt knee to launch himself in the air.  He positioned his sword above him, ready to run his blade through the leader behind the bodyguard, who seemed to be shaken by his threat.  Compared to his skills back then and today, he knew that he had marginally improved and it was thanks to his father that helped him restore his spirit.

At that moment, though, his mind returned back to the present, seeing at the corner of his eyes the leader had morphed into Renko Usami, the woman he saved three weeks ago.  Reversing his grip on the sword, he placed his left palm on the pommel and drove the sword down.  Although he was not able to completely stop his trajectory with this technique, Renko was backing away from him, giving him enough room to land on the ground.  She tripped and fell backwards thanks in part of the wind blowing behind her as he landed, his sword tip making contact on the ground, surprisingly remaining intact.  His hand shook as he closed his eyes in utter shame, knowing that his first impression must have been threatening to her.

“Ah, umm,” Eiji awkwardly stuttered, as he looked at Renko, standing back up and pulled his blade up, lowering it to his side.  “Sorry about that, Usami-san.  I did not notice you there while I was practicing.”

“I-it’s all right, Kuroda-san,” Renko reassured him, standing up and puffing her skirt, timidly looking at him while realigning her composure.

The greeting quickly escalated into a rather awkward one, for Eiji was the one that initiated an attack.  Silence filled between one another for a moment, as the two regathered their thoughts together.  The soft wind breezed around the rooftop, peacefully shuffling their respective hairstyles as they stood, looking at one another.  Eiji set his sword to the side and stepped towards her.

“How’s your leg?”

“It’s all well thanks to proper care from the hospital.  Thanks for paying my bill, by the way.”

“You’re welcome.  Ah, you must be here about the business arrangement we made several weeks ago, right?”

“Mhmm, I brought the object that needs inspection right here.”

Renko took out what seemed to be a blue flare gun from the small leather case, to which Eiji slightly backed away, mistaking a gun to be a sign of hostility.

“What’s the matter,” she asked him, presenting the gun to him on the palms of her hands as she approached him.  “The gun isn’t loaded, so you’re safe.”  This gun was made from a 3-D printer and the appearance of the design obviously stated itself to be one that appeared to be of improvised make.  Eiji stood close to Renko to have a good look at it, confirming the fact that it was not loaded at all.  She motioned her hands to him, telling him to examine it.  He took the gun on his hands, curiously examining the gun in terms of design and make.  Like the company that he worked for that cared for old products, whoever made this gun must have deeply cared for it through all the years of their life.

Aside from the fact that this object was mostly shaped and colored like an old blue flare gun, he found an engraving on the plastic gun’s handle.  It read **December 29 th, 2015**; built several generations ago.  He was surprised that Renko was able to keep this gun safe and hidden from public eyes for so long.  At that time, a man was arrested for making five copies of this particular firearm.  He wondered if this was one of the copies that were created long ago.

“Tell me,” Eiji began, giving the gun back to her.  “How was it that you were able to acquire such a rare gun?  I have not seen such a make like this before, particularly around any of our departments in the company.”

“I inherited it from my grandmother,” Renko responded, willing to cooperate with him as she trusted him in exposing one of her family secrets.  “I believe her name was Sumireko.  She created this gun from a 3-D printer long ago when she was in high school.  She’s kind of a genius if you considered the fact that she made this at a young age.  Oh, I forgot to give you this.”

She presented Eiji the can of juice his mother gave her and he took it in his hands as he gave her the gun back.  As he opened the can of juice and began to take a drink in relief, Renko reached in her bag to grab a bullet cartridge, loading it in the gun’s chamber.  Pushing it in the chamber, it slid in perfectly, signaling that it was loaded as Renko pushed her thumb on the hammer.  Shortly after, she grasped the handle of the gun and pointed it at Eiji, who just noticed her doing so in the corner of his left eye.

“Hey, what are yo-”

_Click._

Eiji at first braced for the gun to shoot him, raising his sword in front of him while dropping the can of juice in the process, which now was leaking on the ground upon its crashing.  He noticed shortly after that nothing happened at all – no bullet releasing from the gun, nor any sound emulating from the object Renko was holding on her hands.  Dropping his sword on the ground, he stood up to Renko, who began to shrivel back in fear as Eiji approached her, both in curiosity and rage as he grabbed the arm that held the gun in her hand.

“You know, you could have injured someone, given that the gun was pointing towards me,” Eiji told her, firmly grasping onto her arm as she pulled the trigger to emulate more clicking sounds.  “And yet… yet, why is the gun not properly working as it should?”

“And that’s the problem.  The cartridge seems to be empty, despite the fact that it’s filled at the moment.”

He released his grasp on Renko’s arm and motioned his right hand to her, requesting for the gun.  Wanting to not anger him any further, Renko gave him the gun, observing the change in his behavior as he began to examine the gun once more.  Clearly, he was not like his parents, for his father was rather chill, while his mother, if the blonde woman was actually his mother, was quite dense.  From how he behaved from her trying to test the gun on him, to his change in taking the gun from her, he was either edgy or secretive; a few behavioral features she profiled someone if they were lunatic.

Eiji further examined the gun, being careful to not dismantle it by mistake.  As he popped the bullet out of the hole and examined it, he noticed a circular star-like symbol marked on the rim.

 _Weird,_ he thought, feeling the cartridge on his fingers.  _This gun uses 45-caliber ACP rounds?_

What was weird as he examined the casing was how unusually light it was and that he could not open the bullet to reveal the gunpowder in the cartridge, despite his few attempts in trying to pull it out.  Once the trigger had struck the primer of the cartridge, the contents within it should have ignited the gunpowder within it, launching the tip as a projectile.  However, it did not do so, which piqued his interest of why the gun did not trigger it at all in the first place.  Perhaps this ‘Sumireko Usami’ Renko mentioned to him made this bullet special in some way.

“So, did you manage to find something wrong with the gun,” Renko asked him, noticing that he was looking at the magazine of the bullet for some time.

“Not quite,” Eiji responded, noticing that Renko was close to him, wandering what was wrong with the cylindrical bullet he held.  “However, I did find a symbol marked on the rim of the bullet.  Know anything about it?”

He presented her the bullet that was marked on the metal end of the bullet, to which Renko took it in her hands to examine it.  She was shocked at what he had discovered on the rim and shook her head in response.  This symbol, a hexagonal star, marked on the end was similar to the markings on a card that she kept as a bookmark within her journal.  Unfortunately, she could not show him the card right now, for she left it back at the dorms on her desk.  She looked back at Eiji, who went to pick up the can of juice he dropped earlier, setting it on a square platform a few paces away from her.

“What are you doing,” Renko asked him as he approached her.

“Testing out a theory,” Eiji responded, pointing at the can with his right hand.  “Try to concentrate and shoot the can I set up over there.”

As Eiji sidestepped out of Renko’s line of sight, she loaded the gun once more and aimed the gun at the can with her right hand, grasping it with both hands.  She closed her eyes, losing sight of the target in front of her as she seemingly focused on concentrating as ordered by him.  She can feel some unknown force within herself gathering up, emulating a weird, uneasy feeling in her chest.  She could hear her heart beat at the same time as she concentrated on the gun, pulling the hammer back with her thumb until it locked in place.

_Click_

Renko felt confident as she pulled the trigger, but alas nothing happened as Eiji saw her prematurely fire the gun.  She opened her eyes to see that nothing had happened to either the can or the environment at all.  She was confused at what kind of experiment he was trying to perform on her, much more what this ‘feeling’ she had just experienced.

“Hmmm,” Eiji began, “try again.  This time, focus on concentrating on your hands.  Oh, and keep your eye on the target.  You’ll see that doing so will lighten the burden.”  Trying to avoid martial arts jargon for Renko to understand what he was describing this kind of power was hard enough for him.  He only hoped that she understood what he was trying to point out.

“A-alright,” Renko responded, raising the gun with both her hands to her sights as she did her best to maintain her aim at the can once more, regathering her focus around her hands.  She wanted to ask him what it was, but assuming that he was not done with the experiment yet, she complied.  Once more, she felt the same feeling flowing through her body.  This time, however, this strange flow of energy flowing within her began materializing to her hands, which began to seep into the gun.  In turn, the gun began to shine, giving her a feeling that right now was the time to shoot as she drew the hammer back.

_Click._

In a fit of assurance, Renko tried to pull the trigger and once more, nothing happened.  Eiji saw her struggling in trying to gather concentration power in order to use the gun.  After a few tries, she began to feel flustered, shaking her head as she could no longer focus on this unknown experiment Eiji had made her undergo.

“I don’t get it,” Renko told him, looking at the gun as she stared at it in confusion.

“Let me give it a try,” Eiji asked her, motioning his left hand to her to give him the gun.

“First, you have to tell me what’s going on.”

“You’ll see.  I’m sure that action speak louder than words in this given explaination.”

As Renko gave Eiji the printed gun, he felt his own energy already pouring into the ammunition casing as he gripped the handle with his right hand.  This hypothesis of his became apparent: when the gun was held by someone who was proficient in energy manipulation, it began to draw in spiritual energy from the user to materialize it as gunpowder for the bullet’s use.  When Renko was testing it, many theories that came to his mind, which either her lack of training in spiritual training or combat ability answered his collective thoughts.  This, in turn, rendered the gun as a mere toy, unless if an actual bullet was used.  Still, the fact that she managed to draw in what little energy she could, despite her lack of understanding in how energy materialization functioned, was a surprise him.  The least he could do for her right now was to demonstrate what she could do if he was to teach her how to materialize energy into a weapon.

Focusing his attention back to the can that laid a few paces away from the two, he aimed his gun at the half-filled can with both his hands gripped on the handle in shooting position.  There was no iron sight on the tip of the shooting barrel, which caused a bit of difficulty in trying to line the gun to its intended target.  He was by far no expert of how to use guns, but his brother taught him years ago how to at least hold one, giving him a bit of an idea of how the fundamentals of handling one was like.  To further back his capabilities with small guns, he played enough on-rails shooter games that required him to seemingly hold a gun controller in his hands, leaving him to imagine himself playing a session of such a game.  Renko observed him to the side, paying attention to how he held the gun, ranging from his stance to how he aimed to hit the can that was standing upright.  Unlike how she was holding her gun, it appeared as though he knew how to effectively use it.

_Bzzr.  Bzzr, bzzr!_

_Twak, tink!_

Three quick, blue laser-like bullets flew straight for the can.  The first bullet hit its mark, causing the can to jump up upon contact, while at the same time, leaving a hole through the bottom half, releasing a straight wave of reddish-orange liquid as the bullet continued through it.  The second bullet, however, did not hit the can, but rather, grazed at the upper half of the can, causing the can to spin in mid-air as it began its descent.  The last one missed the can, as it flew over the descending can.  The bullets then continued flying across the roof until they made contact with the rooftop floor several paces away from the can’s location, dissipating immediately after leaving marks on the surfaces. Eiji had the gun in front of his body, his left hand gently on the hammer, while his right still holding the gun.  Taking a breath, he pointed the gun up and pressed a switch above the trigger with his pointer finger, initiating the safety.  Renko, on the other hand, was surprised of what she witnessed and clapped for him as he displayed something that which she did not know at all.

“You need to explain what I just saw,” Renko told him, wanting the gun back as she had witnessed a profound discovery about the gun she had for so long.

“One of these days, I will,” Eiji responded, twirling the gun until he held the gun on its barrel, holding out the gun for her to grab it.  “For now, this is all I could show you for today.”

“Tsk…”

Eiji walked to the can after he gave Renko the gun, almost stumbling on the ground, catching himself once again.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah… Using that gun took a lot of effort to make it functional, though…”

She tried to shoot it once more at a different direction, only to find out that the trigger was locked in place.  He must have done something about it.  As he returned to her side with the can in his hands, she asked him about what he did to her gun.  He told her that he flipped the safety switch on located above the trigger guard so she would not shoot him once more by accident like last time.  Despite now wanting to try to use the gun the same fashion he used it, she understood that he did not wish to be shot by her because of this newfound knowledge.  As he picked up the can, he assessed how much damage he did to it and to his judgement, was not surprised at all at the fact that he left a few holes on the can.

Fortunately for the two, the shots fired were not loud enough to be heard by the residents of the apartment.  Eiji sighed in relief that nobody from this apartment complex came up here just yet, as well as the fact that the projectile did not leave this rooftop for the public to see it.  While Eiji walked to his sword and picked it up, Renko packed the gun back in the small leather case.  She looked at mechanic who repaired ancient and old items from seemingly ancient times and smiled.

 

“Would you like to join the Secret Sealing Club, Eiji-kun?”

“The… Sealing Club?  Is that some sort of sandwich or important organization?”

“It’s a secret club I’m running.  We’re interested in people who have a knack for necromancy and looking at the world in a ‘different’ perspective.”

“R-really… Sounds like something interesting to be involved in.  What’s the catch though?”

The elevator continued its descent down the stairs until it reached the nearest floor, which they continued conversing about the details of the club during the time.  Now that he seemed to have a special ability like her and had a few similarities like her, Renko intended on recruiting Eiji into this small club of hers.  From what her parents originally told her, this ‘flare gun’ that she now had stored in the leather case was a toy, though to be safe, she shouldn’t load the only bullet it came unless if it was for an emergency.

Although she failed to see why the bullet was not functioning like a flare gun her parents told her, she finally found out today why it was acting like so through his demonstration.  Finding out that the bullet she possessed was a magical relic, this gave her a bit of motivation in reviving the Sealing Club, despite suspending activities for now.  Still, her odds in recruiting him in it were slim, since his work conflicted with her usual club activities as she continued to explain about her club to him.

The two reached an elevator door on the floor below the roof, pressing the button to request for it.  Once it came up to their level, it opened the doors, letting the two in as Renko pressed the button labeled **5**.  Eiji was carrying his sword in his left hand back to the apartment, as well as carrying the broken can in his other to properly discard it so evidence could not be fabricated about a misunderstanding of a shootout on the rooftop, should another apartment resident find it lying up there.

“Ah, here you go,” Renko began, taking out the rooftop keys out of her pocket and handed it to him.  “Your dad gave it to me when I was going up to the roof.”

“Mmm, thanks,” he replied, taking it in his hands and pocketing it.  “For the record, I do not deal in guns and weaponry, much more; the company does not handle firearms due to obvious laws.”

“I see...”

“However, I’m glad that you called me up before them.  I’ll report that it was just a routine cleanup on an electronic, given that the file filled for it states that it was one.  After all, the item you’ve shown me was intriguing enough, that I’ll help you know how to use it, free of charge.”

Renko’s eyes went wide as she looked at him, not believing him as he blurted those words out.

“Wait, what?”

“I’m willing to help you use the gun to its full use.”

“I… I don’t know what to say.  But why are you doing this for me?”

“Danger is around every corner, if you have not noticed.  Remember what happened in that one night with the Yakuza we faced at the river?  If you would have had a weapon at the time and knew how to use one, then the situation would have probably been different.  Then again, I suppose I should have brought one too, but I can’t blame myself, for I was going through a weekly exercise routine around Arakawa during that night.”

The fact that it would have ended differently remained true as Renko heard him lecturing her about the events that transpired at that night.  Still, even if she did have a weapon at the time, she would have still be injured, seeing that Eiji too did not fare well against them as well, according to what she heard from Jun days after she recovered from her injury.

“I suppose you’re right,” Renko sincerely told him, “but you still did not answer my question.  Will you join the Sealing Club?”

Eiji thought for a moment.  Last time he had heard about the club was no more than five years ago when he was still in college and even still, Renko was actively involved in the activities.  He wondered if this club was a college-exclusive only club, seeing that he only heard of it when it made its appearance in Tokyo International University at the time.  Even if he did join the club now, his work might interfere with club meetings, given that he worked weekdays.  He gazed around the hall while the two had walked through it for some time, seeing that they were about to approach his parents’ apartment number.

“I’ll think about it,” he answered, “For now, I feel like I should relax for a while, seeing that we had discovered something profound today.  You would not mind sending me a text message about your next activities, right?”

“Sure.” Renko told him, smiling at him.  “After all, I’m guessing that you really want to know what’s happening in our club before you jump into conclusions, am I correct?”

“… How perceptive of you… Anyways, here is where we separate ways.  Take care out there, and stay cute out there, Usami-san!”

“Bye, Kuroda-kun!”

Eiji re-entered his parents’ apartment and the two waved at each other before he closed the door behind him, while Renko continued her way in the halls to find the elevator the two took in order to make her way out of the apartment.  She smiled, finally making contact with someone who might be interested in boundaries between different worlds.  Today, she had established her lead, and for once, the investigation for her Maribel had finally progressed a bit further.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Knowing that the investigation for Maribel was on a plateau, Renko summons Eiji on an emergency meeting, stating that she was planning on disbanding the Sealing Club for good. He answers the call for her 'last' meeting, to which she intends to extract as much information from him to aid her in her search. However, her own past with her former member begins to fire back on her, beginning a series of memories unfolding in her mind that should have remained sealed away from her...

**Meet me at 11:20 am this coming Saturday, at Tokyo Station.  This will be the last club meeting we’ll have.  Oh, and make sure you bring anything unusual with you.  Magical items, if you must know what I mean by “unusual.”**

That was the message Eiji was looking at when he flipped through his text messages with his hand on his phone.  He sent a reply that he could- no, _will_ make it to the last official Sealing Club meeting, despite the fact that he was not a member at all.  By request, he did bring some rather unusual items he had, as well a small bag that had spare clothing and essentials for him to last for the entire weekend.  The first item was long, as it was wrapped in a black cloth bag strapped behind him, hiding it from the public eye as he knew that it would probably be weird, given that it glowed whenever someone besides him touched it.  The second item was his pair of camera glasses, to which he assumed that Renko might know something about the little girl that attacked the two many nights ago.  The last item was a pair of gloves and a watch, for he had an idea that might bring a solution to allowing Renko to utilize her gun.

The items Eiji brought may not be so unusual to someone who had an interest in occultism, but to him, they probably would pique Renko enough to examine them at best.  After all, what was in the long slender black bag he had beside him was the most unusual object to him.  He found it roughly around two years ago during a business trip in Kyoto.  Assuming that he was to meet her at the train station, he wondered whether if he was meeting her here to walk around Tokyo, or if they were going to buy train tickets to go somewhere in Japan.  He sat at a nearby bench within the large station, scoping the station in hopes of seeing Renko somewhere in this building soon enough.

The train station had gone through a reformation about three years ago.  The interior was redesigned to having a more sophisticated look in today’s interior appearance.  The Japanese Government reformed some of the existing rail routes as well, such as the famed Tokaido Shinkansen, which went through a serious renovation period at the time before it was operational once more.  Additionally, the government removed several old railways that were either no longer used or could not operate anymore across Japan, giving more room to construct many highways and cities in the country.

Parts of the station’s interior reminded him of the Bo-Tokyo station back in his high school years, when his class group were selected out of the same grade in a random raffle drawing on a fundraiser for a trip to a Noh Performance at Minami-za, a Kabuki theatre that stood through the test of time in the city.  Such good times, it was, especially when a particular train on that station featured what seemed to him was the greatest sights of Japan back then.  Judging from the fact that Renko told him to meet her at a bullet train station, he wondered if they were actually going to go somewhere far from Tokyo.

As Renko must have done research about him and his occupation, Eiji too did research about the Sealing Club after their first actual meeting a week ago.  According to what he wrote about this club long ago, it had appeared in Tokyo International University during his second year in the institution.  Many had tried to apply in the club to participate in their activities, only to be turned down by the only two members in the club: Usami Renko and Hearn Maribel, in which they focused on ‘seeing a different kind of Japan.’  This, in turn, inspired some students, who were rejected from the club after applying, to begin their own kind of ‘Sealing Club.’ 

From what Renko told him about her Sealing Club, it was a club that focused on finding boundaries to other dimensions.  He found it strange that an e-book of his, _Dr. Latency’s Freak Report,_ had a similar plot about the main character and her assistant’s observations about other dimensions they had encountered coincidentally matched these two club members’ goal.  In fact, he wondered if one of those co-authors of the magazine was the actual Renko Usami.  The other clubs that followed upon its upbringing, however, focused more on the occultist beliefs, ranging from summoning rituals to seeking the supernatural for extermination.

What he found strange, however, was that Renko arrived alone when she met him a week ago instead of arriving with her friend by her side.  Additionally, her tone seemed to be a bit off on their first meeting; as if she was the only member of the Sealing Club left.  From a particular journal entry, it recalled that those two young women seemed to be inseparable by nature.  Eiji pondered about what happened to the two for about ten minutes, to which he received a text message from Jun while doing so.

He flipped his phone out and searched in the message bin after wondering whether he should try to mention about the missing second member to Renko during their meeting today, or not to do so out of respect.  He looked at the message received from Jun, only to find out that he was giving his blessings in the two going out on their ‘first date.’  He silently cursed at his phone, aiming his pent-up anger at his friend as he pocketed his phone away in one of his coat pockets.  Just because the two were talking to one another lately did not mean that they had something suddenly going on right now.

Renko finally arrived within the station by train. She entered the area after departing the train when it halted to release its passengers, noticing him sitting on the bench, within the lobby area.  Unlike him, who was a resident of Tokyo, Japan, Renko had to take a train to get here, using most of her money to buy several tickets from her place to her intended destination and back home for this weekend’s trip.  According to his text response, Eiji had brought the items she sought to examine, though he was rather vague about their details.

Aside from the essential items she wanted him to bring for this weekend’s trip, she had brought an item that he might help her in identifying, as well as an empty duffel bag.  This weekend was the last days that she maintained rent expense at an apartment she kept in Kyoto, Japan.  Wanting companionship while she gathered what remained back at the apartment before she turned in ownership of the apartment number to the landlord of the place, she requested him to come with her, telling him that this was the official last club meeting that the two would have.

“Sorry that I arrived a bit late,” Renko told him when she approached him.  “The train I was on took a long time to arrive to this station.”

He looked up, seeing Renko.  “A-ah, you’re fine,” Eiji responded, standing up to greet Renko and pocketed his phone.  “Err, where are we heading off to by the way?”

“I’ll show you the tickets needed for our trip this weekend.  Follow me!”

“We’re going somewhere far from Tokyo, then?  As I expected…”

Eiji stood up and the two walked up to the railway vending machine, Renko ordering Eiji to buy his own tickets to their destination.  The two planned on boarding the former Tokaido Shinkansen, then taking the Boyo Shinkansen _Hiroshige_ the next night between Kyoto and Tokyo after she turned in the keys to the apartment she kept paying for at the city.  Why they took the Tokaido Shinkansen route to Kyoto first instead of going through one route altogether were two reasons: the first being the money issue the two faced as the Boyo Shinkansen was a costly trip for a round-trip ticket and the second being the fact that Renko wanted to enjoy the view of their departure trip, as she had never been on it for quite a while.  After buying his tickets, the two waited on the bench until the bullet train the ticket told them to board on arrived.

They boarded the train within a crowd of people, which at first, was tightly packed.  Squeezing through the crowd, Renko and Eiji eventually managed to find an empty side table between two seats facing one another on the right side of the train.  As the two sat down on the seat at their respective sides, a scanner flipped open from the table, flashing a red text labeled ‘Tickets Please’ on the small screen.  The two took out them out and scanned the barcode provided on the slips to the scanner, which it flipped back down on the table upon scanning them.  Once it flipped itself over, the two set their bags and belonging on and below the table.  The small television-like machine above the two would announce and show itself to the two once the bullet train was approaching their intended destination, so the two had no worries to judge whether each stop was theirs to disembark.

The train moved on and ten minutes had passed.  Renko was reading her journal, while Eiji gathered his mind together with the things he had brought with him.  Taking out a pair of gloves he brought with him, he placed it on the table and tapped the glass of the square watch on his wrist.  This made the watch’s edge glow green, followed by a small screen that emerged out of the watch.  Although this was the first of objects Eiji planned on showing Renko, she paid little mind to it, as having portable watch computers were commonplace in today’s society.

More time passed by as the two were occupied with their own respective businesses. Aside from his ElPad tablet, the portable computer watch and his camera glasses Eiji was currently using were the only highly technological devices he kept around himself during his off-duty activities. The rest of his belongings at his house, for the most part in technological terms, were either supplied by the apartment, repaired and adjusted to today’s technology by him due to being dated decades ago, or crafted by his own hand such as the sword he had recently shown Renko.

To Renko, it seemed as though he was blindly tapping on his wrist while the screen displayed on his watch was showing unknown data.  To him, however, the watch visualized a small mini-keyboard displayed on his wrist and data that showed him the progress of an update on an app he was working on.  His camera glasses also doubled as a secondary screen for this computer watch after installing a program within it that allowed the device to store up to a screen per lens.  A miniature map popped up in front of Eiji’s right eye lens, showing their current location and where they were heading off to.  Surprised to see this pop up in front of his eye, he motioned his right hand, seemingly squeezing it down to reduce the opacity of it.  Eiji had connected the watch’s wi-fi hardware with the train’s network, providing him their current location on this train route.

The two looked out the window at separate times to see that they were moving through different landscapes, despite powerlines and highways were blocking half of it.  Most of the times, they were once more within city limits, causing the two to look away from it when the train passed through them.  Much has changed in Japan, especially the current geography balance between cities and open land.  There had been many efforts in trying to preserve the land and cultural structures of the country by the government and the people, but alas, progression took priority over preservation of Japan’s culture in the end.  Nowadays, virtualization substituted the government and peoples’ task in cultural preservation.

Renko sighed as she continually gazed through the window, feeling a bit sad as she saw notable changes in Japan’s development as it was today.  Though Eiji’s sight was partially blinded by the data surrounding his field of vision, he noticed her reacting such a way as she stared through the glass.

“What’s wrong,” he asked her, looking back at her.

“Eh,” Renko responded, unaware that Eiji was talking to her as she turned to face him. 

“You seem saddened.  Why the long face?”

“I-it’s nothing, really.”

“I see…”

As Eiji sat back in his chair and tapped on his wrist to continue with his computer work, Renko found it strange to see him drop the subject with ease.  From what Jun told her about him, he would probably be willing to help her in her situation with Maribel, should she address it to him.  However, he did not do so as he just merely sat back and got back to his computer work.  Perhaps it was the fact that he was busy.  Then again, was he really this dismissive about other peoples’ dilemmas?  Ignoring his current attitude, she looked back outside, looking out to see that they were once again in the countryside.

Renko’s mind lingered on to the point that she remembered a moment when she and Maribel were on the _Hiroshige_.

_…Don't talk like a spoiled kid. Nowadays, the only people who ride that are Tōhoku people, Indians and celebrities.  You might be as carefree as the Tōhoku people though,_ she remembered, imagining herself talking to Maribel.

_I am a celebrity,_ Maribel would have told her back.

A ‘celebrity,’ huh…  That word brought silent tears as she continued to look through the window, the word repetitively crossing her thoughts, haunting her soul she took this train to Kyoto.  Eiji took notice of her quieted sorrow as he continued his work on the computer.  With a flicker of his finger in front of his eyewear, he expanded the screen of data outside of his field of vision and waved the data above his watch as it was caught above it, shrinking in size.  Taking off his glasses and placing them on the table, he looked at her once more as she grieved in silence.

“To be frank, you’re a terrible liar, Usami-san,” Eiji began, closing his eyes and sighed.  “I’m going to ask again: Is there something wrong?”

Renko looked at Eiji, trying to hold back her silent tears, her emotions trying to break free.

“I…  You probably will not understand,” she sorrowfully answered, believing that he was being rude once more.

“Well, that depends if you’re willing to share what’s going on, given that the Sealing Club is breaking apart as we speak.  It’s… probably best to not downplay anything that’s undisclosed between us.”

Renko was shocked at what he just said as her tears finally freed themselves from her suppressive efforts in holding them back.  Her heart ached as she placed one of her elbows on the table in front of her while she began to bury her face on one of her hands, while the other clutched her chest.

“Oh Merry, w-why did you have to leave this world?  I… We… We had accomplished so much in our little secret club… that… that…  Why did you just leave me so just like that? Oh, Merry…  I-i-if only if…”

Eiji witnessed Renko’s multiple grieving over this person named ‘Merry,’ who seemed to be her old friend from long time ago.   Though the rest of Renko’s emotional breakdown began to bury itself in her own sorrow, his thoughts began to think about the name she spoke of.  He remembered hearing that name from a brown-haired woman with a hat, whose name happened to be ‘Renko.’  In fact, he vaguely remembered a name similar to the one Renko mentioned just now back in his middle school years.

Eiji continued to look at Renko as minutes passed by; who now buried her head behind one of her arms on the table.  At first, he wanted to touch one of her hands with his, but he decided to take the sensitive decision to not do that, given the fact that they were in a public area.  Just then, a chill ran down his spine, causing him to freeze for a second.

_Confide to her._ A voice softly whispered to his left.

His heart was coldly struck by those sudden words that shot in his thoughts, which he maintained emotional disparity as it hit him.  He kept eye contact with Renko, coming up with a way to make her positive once more.

“I… You know, this ‘Merry’ you’re speaking about,” Eiji told Renko.  “I’ve heard her name before.”

She looked at him, peeking through her covered self with eyes of sadness. A sudden urge of hopefulness poked within her as she just heard what he just said.

“Y-you have,” she questioned, reassuring what he had just told her.

“It was a long time ago, though.  About a year or two ago, from a woman about your age, I think…  In fact, you look almost exactly like the woman I met when I was driving my way home from work at another prefecture of the same company, when I came across a woman with a mushroom hat like-.”

“Mine… That woman was me all along!”

“You are?  Then your name must be Usami Renko from a year ago.”

“And yours as Kuroda Eiji, I know...  I-I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again because I need your help, more than ever…”

Although they had acquainted with one another for a few weeks, Renko couldn’t believe that she was seeing the very person that had helped her long ago.  The gears in her mind began to rapidly turn as more information was being confirmed to her by the lead she found.  Feeling a sense of newfound hope spring within her, she grabbed her journal that was lying on the table and began to flip through the many pages it began showing her until she was on the part where she found the symbol of the Takeda Clan back in the hospital.  Turning a few pages back, she found out what he was talking about ran similar to what she wrote over a year ago.

“Please, tell me more about what you know on that day when we both met each other the first time!”

Eiji warmly smiled and began explaining Renko the details about what happened long ago as she cross-examined his information with her own.  According to what he told her in his perspective at the time, Renko requested him to bring her to a rather small Shinto shrine near Kiyosato, Japan, which remained abandoned to this day.  He was about to leave her after she told him that he could get back to driving back home, when a feeling of his seemingly called for him within the abandoned structure.

Now that she cross-examined what his perspective was, she now knew that he had found an object that had ties to a missing person in his company.  In her perspective at that time, she had just realized that her best friend had seemingly ‘disappeared’ from existence after recently finding out that the world around her felt a bit empty, which slowly shaped itself into reality.  Hoping to find the answers of what happened to her at first, she had went to this shrine in hopes of finding her friend there, but even with the help of Eiji, she was not there at all.  This was strange to her, which may lead to more cryptic and annoying clues to deal with once she was done questioning him.

           

Silence returned between the two after sharing information about that day.  Eiji was confused who told him to keep her company at the moment, while Renko began to cheer up a bit, now knowing that her lead knew who Maribel was, or at least, was indeed the person that helped her long ago.  Fate, as what he thought this feeling of his was, most likely had lead Renko here to this day, where they shared what they knew about what happened at that day in their own perspectives.  Eiji’s watch suddenly began to beep, causing Renko to look at it by surprise.  In response, he pressed the button to turn off the alarm and brought back the opacity on the map that was still on his right lens.

“Ah, we must have arrived at that landmark by now,” Eiji said, wearing his glasses once more and stared at the window.  “Will you look through the window with me, Renko-san?”

Renko slightly turned her head to the window, wondering what he was talking about.  She stared through the window as he joined in with her to see that they were approaching a view of the mountains partially covered by highways, power lines, and signs.   As the two stared through window, Eiji’s watch was emulating a womanly voice; softly definitely the simulated audio tour guide this train now provided to the passengers when their own computers were connected to the train’s network.  According to the information that popped in Eiji’s left lens, it told him that the mountain was restored by the Mount Fuji Revival Association many years ago, to which the organization requested the government to tear down most of the buildings that covered the midsection of the mountain to restore the mountain’s former appearance.  This, in turn, was approved by the government, labeling the mountain after the project was complete as a “World Heritage Sites,” of the Earth.

Mount Fuji was not the same as it was many years ago though.  Aside from the fact that the viewpoint from the bullet train was mainly obstructed by nearby railways, highways, and power lines, the mountain showed signs of both natural and artificial degradation.  The snow formation that once covered the top had mostly melted and crumbled, shortening its height as the melting snow wore down the mountain’s former rock formation.  Renko would have had difficulty identifying the mountain, had it not been for Eiji pinpointing the location for her thanks in part of his glasses.  Had the buildings, power lines, and roads not cover the view of the mountain, and Eiji was not present with her, Renko would have never found the mountain through the urban sea of highways, powerlines, and roads.

“It’s kind of sad viewing the mountain from here as it is,” Renko told Eiji in a depressed tone, after hearing the tour guide talk about Mount Fuji.

“What do you mean,” Eiji asked her, partially confused by her words.

“Well…  Let’s just say I’ve seen a more picturesque and authentic view of the mountain many years ago.”

“Really, the mountain seems to look the same in the few picture feeds I’ve seen lately, ignoring its natural degradation that is.”

“…You’ll see when we get on the Hiroshige tomorrow night.”

“Huh… Nevertheless, Japan is our homeland and we, the people, have to do what we can in preserving the land as it is, right?”

Renko slightly nodded, continuing to gaze at the mountain.  Unlike himself, Renko seemed to have a pessimistic view of the current affairs of Japan.  Eiji heard Jun mentioning that she was running out of options in opportunities, for graduation day was approaching in two years for her.  Knowing this feeling so well, he wanted to help her, but he didn’t know much about where Super Unified Physics would lead her next in terms of a career path.

His work alone made him happy the way he was to the point that he had effectively buried his past with it for these four years of career building after his University Years.  Yet, with the appearance of that girl that killed his lady friend, to the sudden discovery of Renko Usami for the third time, these recent events had caused him to unearth his past life and reflect upon himself once more.  Regardless, this sudden feeling of unease he had earlier disappeared, making him feel a bit content that it was gone for now.

The view of Mount Fuji flew by the two, which they looked at one another once more.  Renko leaned slightly forward to him.

“By the way,” Renko began, feeling slightly curious and better.  “Why did you rescue me that day?”

Eiji slightly leaned back and stared at Renko as he was about to continue his work on the watch that was on his left arm.  He lowered his right hand to the table, taking in a breath, and looked at her.

“It… It’s complicated, really,” he answered, feeling a bit shy.  “You probably would not understand…”

“Oh, come on.  I shared part of my life to you earlier.  Now it’s your turn, Eiji-kun.”

Renko did have a point there, so he felt the need to comply with her.  Tapping a button at the top left corner of the wrist keyboard and shrinking the data screen with his right fingers and waved it to his left eye on his glasses, he took a moment to think of what to say, while dimming the screen of his device.  He took off his glasses, placing them on the desk.  They remained on, flickering the data that still showed up in front of it.

“To put it simple, I made a promise to a blonde woman several years ago.  She told me to promise her to protect the people that she cherished the most in Japan, I think.  I can’t describe exactly what she said that day, since she spoke in English, but it was her last words before she departed…”

Renko examined those words Eiji spoke.  A blonde woman, he briefly described?  Could he mean?  No, she couldn’t be Maribel, since she never heard anything about him at that time.

“She must have been someone special,” Renko asked him, placing one hand flat on the table.

“Yes, she was,” Eiji answered, looking down.  “Her name was Elza.  Elza Shannon.”  He slightly chuckled in sorrow.  “She even claimed me as her arranged husband during my university years, to make matters more complex…  What fun, yet confusing times we had together while it lasted.”

Feeling slightly disappointed, but remorse for his loss, Renko sympathetically looked at him.  “What happened to her?”

“She went back to the United States.  Times change, you know…  I have not heard from her ever since and yet, I still wish for the best for her.”

“I see...  Well, I’m sure she’s doing fine back at the states.”

“I guess she is…”

After some idle conversation between one another and running out of subjects to talk about, Eiji brightened the keyboard displayed on his left arm and continued typing, while Renko grabbed her journal on the table, opening it and continued examining the contents of her previous activities in the club.  The two continued on their respective activities for several minutes, chatting with one another from time to time.  Clearly, the two had not been interacting with people often these days due to being busy with their own lives, which this train ride provided an opportunity to be acquainted to both each other and socializing in general.

 

About thirty minutes had passed when suddenly, the left lens of Eiji’s eyewear was flashing, catching Renko’s attention to the flickering light.

“What happened,” Renko asked him, staring at the flashing white light on his glasses as she lowered her book to see him.

“It’s ready,” Eiji answered, looking at his gloves as he took it and placed it in front of Renko.  “I’m going to demonstrate something to you that may pique your interest.”

“Let me guess: You’re going to teach me that trick you did in our last meeting, yes?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a trick, but yes, I am.”

Eiji worked on modifying a program named Mechanic Assistant 2068, which originated from his workplace.  Seeing that his job had no use of this program anymore because of a switch to better applications to suit new workers, he bought a copy for himself back then for his own personal use before the entire right to use the software was discontinued by the company.  To then, he had switched and modified many of the programs around, only keeping the basic schematic and scan functions operational, as well as several number of simulations that he worked on given by the company he worked at in case if he needed help fixing an old product of the time.  One of the new functions that he was going to demonstrate to Renko was labeled as “Ki Detector,” which allowed the user to calibrate and visualize this once hidden energy within all living beings, thanks to its holographic capabilities.

With several hand motions and signals, he was able to toggle to the desired tool within the application.  The screen above his left hand began to disperse into small blue particles of graphical effects, scattering around the two.  Renko look at the dancing particles that seemingly flew around one another.  She was awe-struck as she saw the particles flying about, while Eiji was loading the program.  After it had loaded, he toggled the Ki Detector option, which already had calibrated his settings in it as the default user.  All the sudden, the particles that were scattered around the area of the table began to close in on Eiji, dancing around him upon arrival.

“This particle that’s surrounding me is called Ki Energy, according to many martial artists and several Chinese medical practitioners,” Eiji began, placing one of his hands on the desk, palm side up.  “In layman’s terms, it is known as spiritual energy.  It flows within every being on earth, as what you’ve seen so far.”

He closed his eyes for a second, to which the particles began to gather up above his palm as he placed one of his hands on the table.  On this hand, the energy that was floating around him gathered up in the center, forming an ever growing ball, which too began to create strings from his hand.  Renko witnessed this phenomenon that Eiji was projecting in front of her.  This reminded her about one of her classes she was currently taking, particularly Computer Simulation for Recreational Use, which talked about the application of holographic projections in many parks and public areas.  This was the first time she witnessed someone who was using it for their own personal use, specifically when there were terms that were unknown to her.

“Can I touch it,” Renko curiously asked him, beginning to extend her left hand to it.

“Sure,” Eiji answered, allowing Renko to try to touch the focused energy ball as he gathered more energy from within himself.

She waved her hand through the ball Eiji was projecting above his palm, feeling the flow of water pass through her own.  She quickly took her hand back to see that her hand was fine, as well as noticing that this seemingly ball of water did not leave a trace of whatever it was made of on her hand at all.

“That felt strange.  This ki energy…  You sure it’s not just an ordinary holographic projection?”

“Nope, it’s metaphysical – unseen by the human eye and existing in the astral plane.  The program I’m using, though, is visualizing it for the human eye to witness it as a holographic projection.  When concentrated with some proper training or many years in martial arts, a trained individual may be able to project it with free will, however shape or form they desire with limits.”

Although Renko was impressed at Eiji’s feat in creating this energy, she felt disappointed when he mentioned the prerequisites for learning this ability he planned to train her in.

“So I’m taking it that I cannot use this ability because I have not done either in my life at all, I assume.”

“Well, you wouldn’t be able to ‘officially’ control this energy.”

“Officially; what do you mean?”

“Throughout the years since I had this job of mine, I’ve modded many updates and patches on an application on the program I’m using.  What this program I have been working on enables a person to streamline their spiritual energy, allowing themselves to project it more quickly as we speak.  Regardless, you would still need to be trained in controlling its power to a certain degree.  Even using a slight amount could prove to be unstable for a person to handle.”

Renko suddenly smiled as Eiji mentioned ‘average’ person.  “Average huh…” She began, leaning back on her seat and brushed her hair.  “You’ll find out that I’m no ordinary person at all.  So, when do we start?”

“We’ll see about that,” Eiji responded, closing his hand as the ball quickly shrunk in his palm and absorbed in the gloves.  “We could start anytime you wish, though it will have to calibrate to your hand size and energy levels first by letting you wear these gloves.”

Eiji took off the gloves and presented them to Renko.  Feeling excited about what she was going to learn today, she took the gloves from his hand and slipped them on hers.  As she did so, the gloves lit up, then began to slowly contract to her size.  Guess he was right about the adjustment phase after all.

“How long is this going to take,” Renko asked Eiji.

“At most, four hours,” he answered, causing her to frown at the announcement. “I know it’s going to take long, but at least you could move your hands freely while it’s adjusting to your size.  In the meantime, I believe our destination is after a few stations after the one we’re coming to.”

           

The rest of the trip to Kyoto was peaceful between the two, despite Renko’s eagerness in trying to manipulate this “Ki” energy Eiji further explained to her about.  According to his explanation, once she knew how to manifest this energy, the bullet her grandmother made would be able to draw in her energy, making it become a fully functional firearm.  Since the wait time for their train ride was rather long at the moment, the two decided to wait until they were in Kyoto at her apartment to begin experimentation and adjustments to her own respective energy level.

The small screen popped out of the table, announcing that their stop will be arriving shortly after two hours.  After it had flipped back in the table, Eiji and Renko stopped what they were doing and gathered their belongings together in preparation of leaving the train.  The train arrived at Kyoto Station as Eiji and Renko exited the train.  As the two walked into the platform, Eiji remembered something from the back of his mind as he checked his luggage.  Renko took notice of him when he stopped following her, causing her to look back, despite the fact that the gloves were unusually changing its pattern to adjust to her hand size.

“What’s wrong,” Renko asked Eiji.

“I left something in the train,” he answered, looking back at the bullet train with a worried expression.  “Could you watch over my stuff while I go back and get what I left behind?”

“Sure.”

Dropping his belongings, Eiji quickly turned around and ran towards the train, entering the open doors.  Renko wondered what he left in the train, hoping that the train did not take him along to the next city.  After all, she probably assumed that he did not have the money to purchase another train ticket, should he be accidently taken by the train due to the limited time it took for passengers to board it.

Once he entered the train, Eiji rushed immediately to the seats that he and Renko sat on.  Fortunately enough, nobody was sitting there as of yet, as he saw a long, black slender cloth bag standing on the side that he sat at.  He ran towards it and reached for it, grasping it as he extended his left hand to the object.  As he gripped the bag, a sudden flash came to his sight, causing him to quickly flinch back.  This has happened before, but something was different; he was not feeling himself so suddenly.

_I see that you have not noticed me this far,_ a voice spoke in his head.  _Allow me to take over for a bit while this eyewear records what happens._

_Eh who are y- ACK!_ Eiji thought, trying to communicate with the voice within his mind.  A sudden jolt of pain came to his head, as he touched his forehead with his left hand in response.  This caused him to fall forward, only regaining balance using the object he had on hand to balance himself back up.  Others within the train were watching him struggle as he gathered his thoughts.  An attendant rushed to his aid, to which he told her that he was not supposed to be on this train and that he came back to pick up what he had left on this train.  With the help of the attendant, he was able to board off the train with relative ease after he strapped the large bag around his body, slung behind him at an angle.

_Not now,_ he thought, knowing that he was beginning to lose his own thoughts as this ‘other person’ within him as he referred it, was beginning to take over his body and mind.  This was not the first time that he had lost conscious from similar incident such as this and despite not wanting to know what exactly happens when he lost his mind like before, this was a rare opportunity for him to capture it, for he still wore his eyewear.  His hand suddenly moved by itself, pressing the record button as the attendant escorted him to the exit of the train.  Upon departing the train doors with his forgotten package intact behind him, the train closed its doors and began to depart from the station.

Renko saw Eiji exit out of the train that the two had entered the station in.  She ran to him as he noticed her awkwardly coming towards her.

“Are you all right, Eiji-kun,” Renko asked, worried about him as he stumbled.  “Moreover, did you find the luggage that you left on the train?”

“Yes,” Eiji replied, looking at Renko with a rather emotionless face, motioning the black slender back slung over one of his shoulders.  “Yes I did…  Anyways, shall we proceed with our trip?”

Renko nodded her head and then the two walked in the station.  She had to remind him of the bags that he had left on the floor of the station, to which he immediately turned towards it to pick them up.  Something was off about him, which caused her to suggest questioning him a second time if he was fine.  Then again, he had working on that program today, which probably made him worn out in order to prepare it for her.

She smiled, knowing at least he was helping her with the best of his abilities, despite the fact that the two have not yet proceeded with the investigation she had planned for tomorrow night.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arriving at Renko's Apartment, Eiji, now possessed by an unknown spirit, finds out more about her abilities and reveals more about himself to her. Conducting a quick investigation about her predicament, this spirit comes up with an idea that may cause a breakthrough in perceiving what is preventing the President of the Sealing Club from proceeding with her investigation...

“Well, we’re here.  Make yourself at home, Eiji-kun.”

Renko unlocked the door and opened it, allowing him to enter in her apartment.  Aside from the essential furniture for an average resident of the apartment complex to survive in this place, her apartment seemed to be rather empty. Assuming that there were no decorations on the walls, countertops, or the tea table set in the living room, Eiji became slightly puzzled at the way she left everything in this place empty. 

The sofa would be the ideal place to relax at first, since the two had been endlessly walking in Kyoto after taking a quick lunch break at a café near the train station for some time to warm up before reaching her apartment.  Carrying their luggage around proved to be a hassle for Eiji not because of the light weight, but how much empty bags she brought with her.  However, relaxing after placing their bags on the floor so suddenly would be rude, knowing that he was a guest in her house.

“Huh,” he began, hearing the sounds of Renko’s footsteps enter and the door shutting behind him.  “Why does this house look so… empty?”

“Ah, I should inform you,” Renko responded, walking ahead of him. “I’m almost done moving away from this apartment.  I just need to grab a few things here before officially giving the house keys to the landlord.”

And by a few things, she must have meant whatever she could grab, judging by how many empty bags he currently carried.

“I see...  In any case, is there a guest room here that I could place our belongings at?”

“Not quite, though I hope you’re fine with sharing the bed with me for tonight, though.”

Eiji would have been surprised by the fact that he and Renko were going to be sharing rooms, much more be in disagreement with the idea to begin with.  In fact, he would have made an excuse about making residence at the living room instead to avoid the awkwardness of sharing a room with a female.  He wryly smiled instead, hiding any indication of awkwardness between the two.

“No.  I would not mind that at all.”

Eiji entered in Renko’s bedroom, stepping onto the tatami floor.  This reminded him of a tatami mat he once had back in America nearly sixty years ago, which he dearly missed so much… As he continually stared around the room, something he saw in the corner of his eye caught his attention.  Aside from the digital acronyms and letters displayed on his glasses, he saw a collection of pictures stuck onto a rectangular mirror.  He walked towards it and glanced at them, thoroughly examining it.

_Interesting,_ he thought to him as he widened his eyes at the excessive amount of selfie pictures of the two women together.  _He was right about the two being close to one another; Kudos to you for figuring out their relationship in record time, Eiji._   He scanned the myriad of pictures about Renko and Maribel until he looked upon two pictures that seemed off.  In the center of the pictures was a photo of an ancient temple, while the picture to the left of this one was a rather large tree.  Why their selfie pictures surrounded these two particular photos in the center puzzled him, he began to think if there was a connection between everything that surrounded the sakura tree.

As he examined the photos on the mirror, the door that lead into the halls creaked open, which he quickly gazed away from the photos as Renko entered in the room.

“Um, excuse me Eiji-kun, but I need to change my clothes now,” Renko told him.  “Could you please wait for me at the living room?”

“Just a minute, Renko-san,” Eiji responded, walking to a corner of the room to place his belongings there, then to the bed to set Renko’s on it.  After doing so, he made his way out of the room.

“Tonight, we’ll be going shopping, if that is fine with you.  Hope you like sake, because we’ll be picking one for each of us~!”

“Mmm, can’t wait…”

As he exited Renko’s room, she closed the door and went to her closet to change her outfit.  She knew that she had at least two hours left until the gloves had registered her as a user to his computer, so why not let a little fashion change and alcohol get in the way of taking a break from life?  After all, with the way Eiji was acting at the moment and her roommate’s justification that his friend worked hard in his career, he must have put a lot of effort in the device he updated for her use.  She hoped a bit of rest and relaxation can help him recover his mood before explaining how she too can use this Ki power he had with the help of these gloves she was wearing.

Eiji made his way to the living room and sat down on the sofa, sitting back as he looked at the blank television screen.  Noticing that there was a controller on the tea table, he picked it up and turned it on, which was currently switched on the news channel.  The channel was going through its hourly news program.  He sat back on the couch and began to watch, letting out a sigh of relief in order to relax.  He smiled, having an impression that Renko was most likely into current events, since she must have had the news channel be the first to be switch on whenever this television set was on.  As he continued to watch the news, the news began a discussion about recent murders that were occurring around Tokyo.  This drew his attention to the screen, while the news anchors gave out details about several incidents ending by impalement to the body on the victims, according to police reports.  While he took in the discussion of these recent incidents closely, a wave of sharp pain began to hit him in the head.

“Urgh,” he groaned, placing his left hand on his forehead in an effort to sustain the pain within his mind.  The original host sealed within his own mind at the moment must be trying to break the seal, himself.  Taking in a deep breath, he quickly recovered and shut the television off in order to reduce his efforts in trying to break free.  He never expected that the owner of this body had a resilient spirit, especially when that news report had triggered something within his mind to awaken his fighting spirit.

Renko emerged out of the room, layered in thermals underneath her typical clothes and a coat over it all.  Though she knew that the weather was sunny today, she never expected that the weather suddenly turned chilly after they just had lunch.  She still had to grasp the fact that even though spring was still transitioning through winter; the chance of cold weather was still apparent around the time.  Today turned out to be one of those days that the weather turned for that matter.  Fortunately enough, Eiji lent her his black jacket he wore today to stave off the elements, which she was grateful for him being such a gentleman.  Holding his jacket on her left hand, she walked to the living room to see that he was sitting on the couch, apparently done watching what was on the television set.

“Here,” she told him, giving his jacket back.  “You must be cold from the walk we just had.”

“Ah, thanks, Renko-san,” Eiji replied, taking it back from her as he stood up, wearing it once more.  “I’m all right, so long as you’re fine.”

“Aw, how sweet of you, to think of my wellbeing; anyways, ready to depart to the convenient store?”

“Yeah, let’s get going.”

 

_Not now, Eiji Kuroda… Your time for revenge has not arrived yet…_

Once more, Eiji felt a splitting headache overtake him as he was examining the back freezer shelf at the nearby liquor store to the apartment with Renko beside him, who was standing beside his right, holding a sake bottle she picked at a different place.  When the two stood at the store, she told her to meet him inside, while she went to obtain a beverage at a bar she knew nearby, Renko saw Eiji kneeling down by the freezer shelves at the corner, with several people eying him.  She rushed to his side, kneeling down by him.

“Are you all right, Eiji-kun,” she asked him.

“Yeah, I’m fine.  Just feeling stressed out about work and all,” Eiji replied, lowering down his hands and standing up, opening the freezer door in front of him and grabbed a random sake bottle from the shelf, quickly regaining composure of his surroundings.  Tonight, after he had a few cups of sake with Renko, he planned on talking to Renko about Eiji’s predicament, while reaffirming her that hope in finding her friend was not lost after all.  The problem, however, resided in whether the owner of this body would try to break free of his grasp on the body while he had control like the previous attempt just now.  He took out his wallet with his free hand and checked how much money he had, while Renko stood up and followed him.

“By the way, do we have any cups to drink this back at the apartment?”

“Yes, it should be in the cupboard above the sink when we get back to the apartment.”

“Oh, thank goodness.  How are we doing on the food situation?”

“I don’t think there’s any food back in the apartment, given that I do not return there so often…”

After securing the sake from the liquor store that was located at a street near the grocery store, it took another thirty minutes to browse for what foods they were going to cook for the return trip at the store.  Once they got what they needed, Eiji took out a random amount of money needed to pay for the food from his wallet, hoping it was enough.  However, he was asked to give more after all the products were scanned and the price was shown, to which he complied until the amount was an excess amount to obtain change from it.  After purchasing their supplies and taking them, they left the store with relative ease.  Though he was hardly noticeable, Renko took note that he was walking relatively faster than usual; as if he was in a rush to something.  As they arrived at an intersection, a small circle-like object on the wrist strap of the gloves he gave her back at the train suddenly flash a green light.

“Excuse me, Eiji-kun,” Renko called to him, causing him to halt and look back at her as the light changed.

“Something up,” Eiji responded.

“These gloves are blinking a green light on the wrist.  Have any idea what it is?”

“Hmmm…”

Eiji noticed at the corner of his left eye a notification from one of his applications was presenting a small, blinking red circle with a number on it.  With his left hand, he expanded a screen from the lens and seemingly touched it with one of his fingers to read it.

“Ah, it’s complete,” he told Renko.  “That program that I registered you on has confirmed you as a valid user and will automatically switch to it when equipping those gloves.  We should get home first to test it out, though.  I fear the public will not be so receptive to it, despite the fact that it uses virtual technology like so few devices these days.”

Renko became excited about hearing the news as Eiji began to shrink the virtual screen back into his glasses.  Now, she would most likely be able to use this ki energy he demonstrated to her earlier.  Her excitement, however, almost ended in her being left behind by Eiji, who quickened his pace to the apartment.

“Ah, wait for me, Eiji-kun!”

Arriving back inside Renko’s apartment, Eiji immediately walked to the table located near the kitchen and placed the two sake bottle in the center, pulling up two chairs between the circular object, as well as grabbing the shot glasses from the cupboard she told him about.  As he placed the glass cups on the table, she arrived at the apartment, feeling weary at the fact that he picked up the pace to return home.  He had all the more reason to make the trip a quick one since they forgot to lock the door upon departure.  She just realized this shortly after he revealed her that the system in his watch registered her as a user, which too caused her to be concerned about the condition of the apartment.  She closed the door behind her as she stepped inside, looking at Eiji, who had already set up the table for the two to sit together at.  The large sake bottle was in the center, parallel to two shot glasses by it.

Renko locked the door behind her and continued to examine the table he had set up for the two.  It seemed as if he was preparing a ritual of some sort, despite the fact that there was no summoning circle drawn on it.  She sighed and smiled as his recent energetic mood spike reminded her of her past self, who was formerly interested in strange objects from different worlds, breaching boundaries, and exploring new dimensions with Maribel.

“So, what’s the plan,” she asked Eiji.

“You’ll see in due time,” he responded.  “Until then, be sure to prepare yourself.  We have much to discuss about your current situation.”

For a second, Renko was confused what he meant by her ‘current situation,’ until she realized that he was talking about her investigation for Maribel.  Recalling what the two had discussed what they were doing this weekend the phone days ago, which was about disbanding the club, he must have seen through her words, realizing that she needed assistance to search for friend.  Though she was deflated in her vain efforts in the search, how he came to the conclusion about her progress had piqued her interest enough, which made her eager about it.  As she saw Eiji putting the food away in the fridge, Renko began to retreat back to her room.

Renko entered in, placing her purse on her bed and began taking out her belongings that she brought to the trip.  Other than a mace spray and her wallet among things she brought with her, she had a strange green stone made out of peridot contained in a plastic bag.  It was shaped like a comma bead, and though there seemed to be a second half for this gem to be made whole, she was only able to find this half upon discovery about a few months ago in Sado, Japan following a lead from one of her sources with the use of her GPS abilities.  She placed everything she took out on the bed back in her purse onto the bed except for the green stone.

_Perhaps Eiji-kun knows what this is,_ she thought as she unsealed the bag to grab the stone, placing it on the palm of her hands.

She walked to the mirror that contained the collection of pictures of her and Maribel, looking at her reflection first, then at the pictures, sighing that this may not lead anywhere at all.  Just then, one of the gloves that she had on began to emulate a short electrical shock on the stone that was on her hand, causing her to snap her hand back at the sight of it.  She shook her head as she looked at the gloves, stunned at what just happened.

“Gah,” Eiji yelled at the dining table.

Renko grasped the stone in her hand and opened the door that lead into the halls, bursting out of her room to see what was going on.  She made her way to the table that Eiji set up, seeing orb-like projections with see-through tails were floating around him.

“What are those,” Renko asked him, confused at the floating projections that flew around him.

With a few waves of his hands, Eiji quickly dissipated the orbs in quick succession, then took off his glasses and saw Renko staring at him at a distance.

“It’s what I plan to show you today,” Eiji answered, placing the eyewear on the table near one of the beverages.  “I was just testing out the holographic limitations of the watch before I begin as planned.”

“H-huh, I’m looking forward for what you have in store for me, then.  It sounded like you were in trouble though…”

“Glad to hear that.  I’m all right, by the way.”

Renko walked to the table, pulling out the remaining empty seat and sat on it, looking at him.  Eiji took a deep breath and exhaled, relaxing himself from what just happened within him.  Now that the original spirit of this body that he possessed broke his grasp, it only had at most two hours before he took over his body once more.  Hoping that he was doing his best covering his true identity from Renko, he grabbed one of the bottles, opened it, and began pouring each cup full of the liquid, and placed it back in the center of the table.

“So, shall we begin,” he asked Renko, taking the cup near him in his hands and presented it in front of him.

“Yeah, lets,” she answered, taking her cup in her free hands and clinked it with his.  The two drank to a toast and placed their cups on the table.  Her eyes slightly widened at the taste of the sake.  It had a sweet, fruity taste, much like fresh apples from a tree.  Fruit Liquor was one of her favorite drinks and for a normal liquor store, he must have chosen wisely on choosing what to drink tonight.  Eiji took the eyewear and wore them back on, beginning to type on the displayed holographic keyboard that was on the table.

 

“So, where should we start on the investigation, Renko-san?”

Renko hesitated when Eiji asked her about the investigation.  Much more, how did he know that she was in search for her friend this whole time?  She could start about talking about her former member, Maribel, though they probably had discussed enough about her friend at the train.  Not to mention, they did talk about the Sealing Club and what it was over the course of the week, so reviewing the club was out of the question.  Many questions had spawned within her mind, and though they had the entire night to go through them, she was more interested in what she just saw earlier.

“How did you come up with the conclusion that I am searching for Merry the entire time,” Renko asked Eiji, curious of how he came to that base conclusion.

“Your mirror in your room contained many pictures about the places you two visited,” he answered, proceeding on typing on the keyboard.  “One of them must have been you, since the hat that I returned to you seemed to be the same one on the young girl had on, while the other was your friend, whom you mentioned to me earlier today.”

“…That’s correct.  We did quite the traveling while it lasted, until one day she suddenly left me, seemingly unannounced about her departure.  The way she left me was strange; as if she had disappeared out of existence.  I tried asking others if they knew her, but so far, only a few professors and my roommate knew of her.”

She grabbed the bottle of sake Eiji purchased and poured the liquid in both their cups.

“I see.  How long ago did she disappear?”

Eiji grabbed his cup and slowly sipped it, embracing the flavor of his drink.  The sake of today was much more refined than the ones that he was used to back in the day, though it was not as strong as it was originally supposed to be.  His preferred beverage in terms of alcohol did not come in many different flavors like today.

“Over two year ago, I think...  It’s been quite a while since then, so I can’t say exactly when.”

He gingerly drank his cup and placed it on the table, slowing down his typing speed.  The holographic projections he planned to show her were almost ready for presentation.  This program that he had worked on for years was finally going to pay off.  According to the given knowledge that Eiji’s mind provided him; this spirit finally obtained a way to show others what the original host saw each day, thanks to his mechanical skills.  Still, Renko had been looking for Maribel for that long, which most likely explained why she was losing morale to the point of officially shutting down the Sealing Club activities for good.

“What if I told you that I have a way to visualize your friend right now,” Eiji asked her, paying close attention to her reaction to what he said.

Renko downed her cup and then placed it down on the table as she heard his question.  Her eyes widened as she heard what he proposed.

“What,” She confusingly replied.

“I have a way for you to see her right now.  No, visualize your friend, as we speak.”

“Really, you have a way to project Merry!?  But, that’s impossible!”

With a swipe of his right hand, Eiji presented a holographic screen in front of him and pressed several buttons on it, presenting a myriad of orb projections wandering around their vicinity.  Renko looked in astonishment at the beautiful, yet strange sight of orbs that were floating around the two.  She had seen him do this before back at the train and just recently, but unlike last time, she was able to see a number of them in person, much more to the fact that they seemed to be larger than usual.  She filled her cup once more with sake as she looked at Eiji, who apparently seemed to be maintaining the floating orbs.

“I need to tell you something, Renko-san,” Eiji began, lowering the number of projected orbs so the two could see each other.  “As you could see, I could control ki, right?  Well, it turns out that I have the ability to channel spirits.”

“R-really,” Renko said, hearing his ability to her.  “Huh… I figured as much.”

“I-wait, you’re not surprised at all?”

“No, not by much; in fact, I’m kind of glad that I met someone that was unusual like me, albeit it being a different ability than what I could do.”

“I see…  Well, that actually cuts what I was about to explain to you to a minimum.  In any case, all you need to know about what I could do, other than seeing spirits as these projections state, is that I can channel it in me in order to strengthen myself to the needs of the situation.  You, yourself, had seen me do so back at the train when I demonstrated what Ki energy was, right?”

“Indeed, I did.  Wait, does this have any relation to you using the gun that I presented to you?”

“The gun’s mechanism can have a relation to using their ability as ammunition, to an extent.  The gun draws in a source of energy or element in order to be functional such as Ki or spirit.  However, I cannot use the gun to its full potential for some strange reason…  If my guess is right, then it probably has something tied to being a weapon passed down by family relations.”

“Huh…  I never knew that…  Nevertheless, that’s an impressive ability you possess, compared to mine…”

“And what would that be, Renko-san?”

Renko closed her eyes and concentrated.  Thinking of the alcoholic beverage the two had bought earlier and was currently drinking, a large, transparent pin suddenly fell on the bottle from a downward angle above them.  The pin clipped through the table, causing Eiji to be surprised at how large it was.  A string-like red line was drawn from Renko’s mind, attaching itself onto the pin.  She opened her eyes to see the pin striking through the sake bottle, as well as a line drawn to her, causing her to flinch in surprise at the sight.

“A-ah,” Eiji stuttered in surprise at the sudden large projection that appeared between the two.  “I’m guessing that you could tell the location of various objects or places?”

“That’s about right.  Originally, I can tell the current time and place of my surroundings,” Renko said, smiling that he at least had an idea of what her power was.  “Finding the location of places or objects with relative ease is what I discovered during my ventures together with Merry over those years together, as well as finding the story behind an item or event that occurred in them.”

“That’s actually pretty useful, Renko-san.  In fact, I- no, maybe tomorrow...  Anyways, there is a way that I could try to bring Maribel up as a projection.  However, with all these spirits flying about, it may take a while for me to filter through spirits around here to a minimum…”

The orbs continued to float around the two while Renko became puzzled at what Eiji just said.  She did notice back when they departed from their train that he had a slender bag, which was perhaps what he was going to mention to her.  However, the purpose of this meeting seemed to have gone off-topic long enough, so getting back on track was ideal for now.

“Do you need any help tracking her spirit,” Renko asked him.  “I may not be much of help, but perhaps if we combine both our knowledge together, then the search might be quicker.”

“I wouldn’t mind your help in finding her with the app we’re using.”  Eiji removed a screen from his glasses and then passed it to Renko, who caught it and expanded it in front of her, proceeding to examine it.  There seemed to be a list and the number showed no sign of immediate decreasing.  “Currently, I’m reducing the number of spirit projections around us until it matches with who we’re searching for.  The problem, though, is that doing so will take a long time, unless if we have an item that has relevance of the person we are searching for.”

At first, Renko felt saddened when he mentioned that finding Maribel’s spirit would take a long time to track down.  As she heard him mention about a way to reduce the wait time by presenting an item that may have belonged to her though, she realized that there was something that may be helpful: the stone that was contained by the plastic bag gripped by her hand.  As she placed her hand on the table and began to release her grip on the gem, she thought it strange that this stone weirdly reacted when she was alone.

“What’s that,” Eiji asked Renko, noticing the stone she presented to him.

“It’s a comma-shaped stone that I found several months ago,” Renko explained, placing it on his side of the table.  “It may have relevance to Merry.  Is it possible to use this item to find her?”

Eiji began to type on the screen that was expanded on the table in front of him, giving Renko a feeling of slight frustration.

“Eij-”

“Hang on.  I’m setting up the configurations for the search.”

With a few flickers and typing motions on the screen, he configured the application to target the stone that was on the table.  Renko noticed that a small square suddenly shone itself below the stone.

The spirits around the two began to gradually disappear, but it was not quick enough. Eiji grabbed his chin with one of his hands, thinking about what to do next.

“Remove the plastic bag, Renko-san.”

“Huh? O-okay…”

As she did so, the numbers began to dwindle at a much quicker rate.  Pretty soon, the number of spirits came down to only five, which began to circle above the small square projection that held the stone in the center.  Eiji shrunk the search screen in front of him down and motioned it in his glasses, looking at the stone and the spirits that flew above it.

“That’s weird,” he said, looking at the floating spirits that were circling above the square as he reached for his cup of sake.  “Generally, the result would have one spirit floating above the stone, but there are five remaining above it instead.  Interesting…”

Renko stood up from her seat, looking at the floating orbs while Eiji took another drink from his cup.  Did he really pinpoint Maribel’s spirit with this app that he had been working on for so long?  She became amazed at what she was witnessing, seeing that her spirit may have been divided into five, or perhaps whether any one of them belonged to her friend at all.   She walked towards one of the spirits that floated in mid-air and reached to touch one of them.  As her finger tapped it, the spirit she made contact with flew over the couch and to the tea table, projecting itself.  It divided itself into two, forming holographic projections of two distinct, but familiar women.

These two holographic projections represented the appearance of Maribel and Renko, to which they seemed to be discussing about something.  Since the program Eiji was using did not support audio yet, it seemed as if the two were in need of lip synching, confusing Renko as she tried to make what the two were discussing about.  She walked to them, observing the two interacting with the items that seemed to project itself on the table alongside with the spirit she just touched.  She never remembered that this event had happened in her life, much more why she was seeing herself in the projection.

“They’re discussing about a set of magical items that the two had found throughout Japan,” Eiji told Renko, walking to her as he joined her in observing the projection as it played out.

“How do you know,” Renko questioned him, feeling a bit puzzled at what to make of it.

“I could hear what they are discussing about.  Though I have not updated the application to include audio yet, I’m able to hear them with my ties as a spirit medium.  I may not be much of an interpreter, but I could do my best to give you a summary of what they are talking about.  Want to know what’s going on?”

“Sure.”

Eiji cleared his throat, then paid close attention to the two as the projections began to discuss with one another.  As he stated earlier to Renko, the two projections were discussing about a set of objects that the two women had found around Japan.  However, these objects were not ordinary at all, for they had ties to an old Shinto god named Izanagi-no-Mikito.  The two had gathered three objects that were part of this set: A comma-shaped stone, a wooden spear shaft, and a spear tip.  At first, the two had procured only the stone by Maribel, but their other ventures across Japan brought them two other objects, which were parts of an ancient Japanese spear.  The only problem was assembling the parts together, which they had no knowledge of doing so until one of them had downloaded instructions on how to assemble one on their ElPad device.  As the projected Renko seemed to be alerted by the door, she walked away from Maribel, which the projections seemed to be fading away.

Renko’s eyes widened at the projections began to disappear and then back at Eiji, beginning to feel a bit distraught.

“What’s happening to them,” Renko asked him.

“This recording of the spirits is about to end,” he answered.  “Maybe if we tap another orb above the table, we could summon more of this story...”

Renko rushed back to the table and touched another spirit orb.  The orb was sent to back to the tea table, projecting the two holograms once more.  As she continued to watch the projections play on the tea table, an uneasy feeling begun to creep within her mind.  A thought crept within her mind, trying to tug her away from what was currently unfolding in front of her.  This gave her all the more reason in finding out what was happening in those projections.  After all, Eiji was providing her this one chance in proceeding further in her investigation, this one opportunity that she needed to take advantage of.

The second set of projections began, which the two had just completed assembling the three objects together with the help of instructions on the ElPad.  As one, the three Izanagi objects together assembled a yari cross pike.  With its ancient design, this spear was most likely used for a ritual, as discussed by the two projections.  Just then, a purple haze-like glow intensified around Maribel.  An idea seemed to have struck within her mind, to which she suggested that they should go to the Boyu Shinkansen.  The projected Renko objected due to how much it cost to take a trip to one, but she still suggested going there anyways.  After an argument, though, they agreed if they pooled in money together, then they would think of going there once more, despite the fact that she had doubts that they would find something there.

As Renko continued to examine the projections, the pain within her head slowly expanded, causing her to slowly kneel down.  Eiji turned to see her do so.  She gritted her teeth as the pain began to fluster within her mind.  She may have not noticed, but Eiji saw that the orbs she touched earlier were slowly flowing into her head, making her absorb them into her mind and eventually becoming one with her.

“Are you all right,” Eiji asked Renko.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Renko responded, feeling that the pain was slowly growing within her head.  “My mind feels uneasy, though I still cannot put my finger on what exactly it is…”

“We could stop, so you cou-”

“No, keep going.  I need to see what happens next!”

Eiji sighed and then stood back, continuing to translate more of the scene to her.  Renko might as well be running into a fatal trap that may cost dearly to her if she continued this reckless behavior in her future investigations.  While translating, he noticed that the projections were beginning to flicker, which confused the two as it happened.  Noticing that the numbers and lines on his glasses were disappearing on his lenses, he looked at his watch, only to notice that the battery life on both of his devices were low.  Additionally, the recording device that the original host had set up suddenly stopped recording due to the space in the portable memory card within the glasses had just ran out.  The orbs floating above the stone on the table began to fade away, causing her to panic a bit.

“Of all times, why are the spirits suddenly disappearing from us,” Renko asked Eiji.

“The battery life on my devices,” Eiji answered, frowning.  “They’re almost out.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now unpossessed, Eiji finds himself in an awkward situation with Renko, to which he continually rolls with the punches when she insists to continue the investigation until he finds out what happened last night. After packing up the rest of her's possessions and leaving her apartment for good, the two continue onward to the Boyu Shinkansen, to which he shows her an important event in his past. However, she finds out not only the reason why he is after Rumia, but a possible link to his acquaintance with Maribel as well...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usually, I wouldn't post so early, but I felt so excited to do so this time around, since it's my little sister's birthday~!

The scent of sweet apples filled his nose as Eiji inhaled and exhaled fresh air in the midst of a deep sleep.

He slowly opened his weary eyes, unwilling to wake up at all.  His left arm felt anchored onto a soft surface to his side, forcing him to place his right hand on his forehead instead of his left, which he brushed his hair.  Wanting to savor the taste of apples in his mouth, he breathed from his nose to maintain air support instead, looking at the seemingly empty room around him as he realized that he was on a bed.

From what he could tell by the sun’s light piercing through the window and above his head, a large amount of time must had passed by since he was possessed.  He looked at his watch on his right arm, which read 9:00 am and that it was a Sunday.  Around this time, he was supposed to cook breakfast for himself.  However, something seemed to have anchored his left arm onto the bed at this very moment.

Looking to his left, he saw a slim woman with brown hair sleeping peacefully besides him, grasping his arm close to her body.  From the winter clothing she and Eiji currently had on, a blanket seemed to not be necessary for the two to enjoy a warm rest, given that it was underneath the two.   His eyes were still heavy, forcing himself to try to sustain awareness as his body tried to instinctively convince him to go back to sleep by her, despite his mind objecting otherwise.  This woman, who was grasping onto him, was Usami Renko, the very same woman that he was with during their train trip to Kyoto before he suddenly blacked out.  He blushed in embarrassment when his eyes readjusted itself to the sight of her, which he made an attempt to wiggle his way out of her grasp.

“ _Please… please don’t go, Mari-berry_ ,” Renko softly muttered, pulling his arm closer to her chest, tightening her grasp.

As Eiji tried to vehemently wiggle out of her grasp, his face flustered a deep crimson when she tightly pulled him in, to which he immediately stopped doing so when she released her left arm, only to place it over his right shoulder.  She then pulled herself onto his chest, laying her head near his heart, while her upper body weighed him down on the bed.  He could do nothing as his mind was jumbled in confusion at what to do against such advances from a cute girl like her.  His heart told him to take this opportunity to keep her close to him by wrapping his arms around her back, but his conscious instructed him otherwise, knowing that if she woke up in the process of doing so, he would promptly be slapped and shamed by her for the rest of their trip in silence.

Taking the latter perception, Eiji scooched out of Renko’s grasp when she loosened her grasp on him, being careful to not let her fall so suddenly on the bed.  Standing up, he shook his head, becoming embarrassed at what he just witnessed.  Not wanting to look back at her out of respect, he made his way to his bags at the corner of the room, noticing that his glasses were plugged into an electrical outlet over his duffel bag, charging its battery up.  He remembered that he turned on the recording device before he was once more possessed by this spirit that had been pestering him six months ago.  He made his way to his bags, taking out his toothbrush and toothpaste and made way to the restroom of this apartment room.  Entering in the halls, he suddenly felt nauseous, forcing him to drop what he was holding onto to rush into the restroom.

He hurled in the toilet after lifting up the seat, careful not pressing any buttons in the process.  Just what happened last night between the two?  After throwing up in the toilet and flushing whatever he puked out, he drew in a deep breath and exhaled.  Once he was done recovering, he walked back in the halls to pick up whatever he dropped and returned back to the restroom to wash up.

He switched on the light, seeing himself look like he came back from a train wreck.  Once done washing his face, he returned back to the hall, walked into the bedroom, took out his towel from his bag, and returned back to the restroom to take a shower, feeling refreshed after five minutes of showering.  After completing his usual showering and dressing routines for the morning, he went to the kitchen to see two empty sake bottles on the middle of the table by the kitchen.

 _So this is probably what my coworkers experienced when having a hangover,_ he thought, walking towards the bottle and took it in his hands, properly disposing it in the glass recycle bin beside the trash can.  _Although I had never tried alcohol until this day, these bottles must have hit the spot…_   Suddenly, a grim thought struck him.

_Oh dear, I hope we didn’t go THAT far!_

Trying to ignore the thought, he made his way towards the fridge, opening it and saw that it was nearly empty.  There was a singular bag in the middle.  He took it out and saw what the contents were.  There was a small package of ground beef, a six-pack carton of eggs, two small orange juice bottles, and a packet of uncooked rice for two people.  Wait, why was the uncooked rice packet in there?  Nevertheless, at least whoever possessed him was considerate enough to the two to buy some ingredients to whip up a meal or two.  Taking the bag out, he placed it on the counter and laid out the contents on the surface.

“Well now, time to start acting chef for a while,” Eiji told himself.  He opened a cupboard after placing the juice bottles by the rice cooker, taking out a pan, two plates, a bowl, and the necessary cooking spices to begin cooking breakfast for two.

 

“Ungh,” Renko muttered, smelling the scent of eggs cooking from the kitchen.  Someone must have left the door open, to which the scent of food awakened her.  She opened her eyes, seeing her left arm lying out in front of her.  As her vision returned to normal, she confirmed that the door was indeed opened and Eiji had left her alone to sleep peacefully.  She laid her head back onto the comfortable bed and slowly picked herself up; despite her body wanting to be confined by this comfortable temptation the bed offered her.  After standing up from the bed, she walked to the restroom, grabbing an unused towel that was on the shelf to prepare to wash up.  After feeling refreshed from her usual morning preparation routine, she made her way to the kitchen to see what Eiji was cooking up.

She peered in the area, seeing him make a second omelet, as one was already on a plate, fully cooked.  The rice cooker was also in use, lively steaming up as it was in the process of making rice.  The meat, though, remained uncooked and still intact, despite the fact that it was not frozen, but thawed.  She saw him at work, which he noticed her when turning around to take a brief break after flipping the omelet he was cooking.

“Ah, you’re awake,” Eiji said, feeling awkward of what happened earlier.  “Y-your food is ready, and you could eat whenever you want to.  I just do not know where the silverware is at, though…”

“Thanks for cooking the food, Eiji-kun,” Renko replied, glad that he showed initiative in making breakfast before she woke up.

“You’re welcome, Renko-san.”

Walking to the rice cooker, she opened the drawer that was below the counter top, revealing the location of the silverware.  She grabbed the only two spoons, forks, and knives in the cupboard, placing them on the table, closing the drawer along the way.  Eiji looked around his vicinity, noticing that everything in her apartment seemed empty.

 _Just what living condition was she in?_   Eiji thought as he continued to cook his omelet while Renko grabbed her plate of food and proceeded to eat at her side of the table.

He used all six eggs to make two omelets, which once more, he was surprised that this spirit that took over him was calculative, to an extent.  After wrapping up the second cooked eggs around a beaten cooked egg to make another omelet, he rolled it onto the remaining plate that was by the stove, placed the cooking pan into the sink, and took his food to the table to join Renko for breakfast.

The two ate in silence, preferring to enjoy the food this way over discussing what happened last night.  Generally, Renko would have eaten at, or at least had ordered breakfast from some restaurant or food chain, but Eiji’s cooking held out surprisingly well, for someone who lived alone.  She gave him a brief smile, signaling that the food was great, which made him content that his food was well made.  The only other person he who enjoyed his cooking was Jun, who visited him once in a while whenever he had the time to do so.  He was glad that someone else liked it, despite the fact that he only had a few recipes to whip up due to the time constraints he faced in his daily schedule.

“Ah, I’m looking forward to you showing me more of those projections from last night,” Renko told him.

His face went blank when he heard her mention what happened last night.

 _…wat?_ Eiji thought, almost spitting out his orange juice drink as he gulped it down.

Did his spiritual possessor just reveal who he really was?  Well, the damage was already done, so he rolled with the punches and just nodded as she stood up to wash the dishes.  Clearly, he was supposed to do it in his own terms, but as he continued gulping down his drink, he came to the conclusion that he, himself, would have done much worse trying to explain what he could do to aid Renko than whoever possessed him.

 _I hope she doesn’t know that the person last night was clearly not me,_ he thought, looking at her wash the dishes as he completely ate his food in peace and placed it in the sink.

“I’m going to check my devices real quick.” He told her.  “I’ll be right back.”

Eiji made his way into the hall, heading back in the bedroom to check on the recording on his glasses in their bedroom he had made yesterday.  Considering that he left it on record mode when he was possessed, he knew that the SD Card within the device would already be out of memory.  Turning on the glasses, he equipped the eyewear, keeping the UI on the menu screen.  Because the glasses were a separate device from the computer watch, he could not use the button functions on the glasses with the holographic touch support that was installed on the computer watch.  Any normal person would be enraged by this due to being conditioned by the technology of today, but he did not mind using the manual controls that were on the side of his glasses at all.  After going through the files in the video section, he found the file next to the video that contained one of his testing footage of the virtualization program he updated from a few months ago.

He pressed the play button, reviewing what had happened when he was possessed.  Making sure that he skipped the unimportant events, such as the shopping trip and their time at the café, he carefully observed what happened in the footage to confirm his suspicions.  Although this was not the first time he was possessed, it was still kind of funny to hear himself talk, considering the fact that he kept the volume projecting from the glasses at a minimum so Renko could not hear what was happening, unless she was close to him.

Still, the information he had in his initial thoughts, combined with observations from his alter ego about the investigation were surprisingly on par with one another, especially when he saw the projections of Renko and Maribel crafting a ceremonial spear using three items of an item set inspired after one of the old Shinto gods.  In fact, one of those items, the spear shaft, seemed to look like the very same object that was wrapped up by the black slender sack in the corner of the room by his duffel bag.  He looked at his bags at the corner as he heard himself explaining a bit of lore about the ceremonial spear from last night.

 _I hope the yari pike shaft that I lacquered in November is not the one in the projections,_ he thought, emulating a puzzled face at the thought.  _Much more, I should be careful when trying to grab it next time, considering what just happened yesterday._

He shook his head as Renko observed him at the entry way within the room.  At first, she was going to bother him about showing her more of the story about Maribel and herself from last night now that his devices were charged up.  However, she saw that he was still checking on his glasses, so she went back to the kitchen to see what they had left to cook.  Today was going to be an extremely long day, considering the fact that she had to turn in her apartment keys in the late afternoon.  After all, she still had to do some last hour packing after cooking bento box lunch sets for both him and herself for tonight.  She was fortunate to have someone deal with the heavy lifting for the things she was going to pack up on the return trip, for the most part.

 

The two shared their respective duties together once in a while throughout the day, ranging from cleaning up the apartment to packing up Renko’s belongings.  With the help of Eiji, Renko was able to pack up what she needed from the apartment, to which she turned in the keys once they were ready to depart from the complex near late afternoon.  The two stockpiled their bags in the middle of the empty train station’s lobby, waiting patiently for their train to arrive.  They then enjoyed a peaceful meal together while discussing what happened last night, ranging from the gem that Renko brought along with her that seemingly contained five orb projections that needed further investigation, to Eiji’s sudden drowsiness after the two had finished playing a few drinking game to wind down for the night.  He blushed in embarrassment when he told her that she slept near him throughout the night, which she laughed it off in response.  Their last club meeting, though was rather subtle, was going to end soon on a good note.

The Boyu Shinkansen, a bullet train that was famed for its quick travel time between Kyoto and Tokyo, arrived at the Yu-Kyoto station as they finished their small dinner together.  It opened the doors, releasing any passengers into the station, if there were any that was, while welcoming any travelers seeking passage to Tokyo.  Eiji and Renko gathered their belongings and made their way in the train.  During the day, there would be many people boarding and departing this station, but at night, little to nobody boarded its train in either way, making the loading process for the two relatively easy.  Nevertheless, this train was in operational for twenty-four hours straight, with the exception on Wednesdays every two weeks for regular maintenance periods.  Once they had moved their belongings in the train, the two found a seat by each other, taking out their tickets for the computer above their seat to scan it.

Eiji looked at their luggage above the scanner after the train began to move and then back at Renko.  Aside from a cut mirror that she currently held onto and her own duffel bag that contained her things, she only packed two suitcases and duffel bags full of objects and clothes that belonged to her back in the apartment they had just left, while she kept her purse next to her right.  Surprised of how much she packed to bring back to her dorm room back in Tokyo International University, he was glad that carrying them proved to not be so difficult compared to his own belongings.  He stood up from his seat and began to rummage through their luggage that they just shelved above them, seeing the black slender bag he carried throughout the trip, grasping it this time with his right hand.  He hesitated, fearing that the same thing would happen once more.

“What are you doing, Eiji-kun,” Renko asked him, puzzled as he remained still as he held the bag.

“Taking something out,” he answered, sighing in relief when nothing had happened to him this time around.  At least he did not have to worry about some random spirits possessing him once more.  He pulled the bag and sat back down on his seat, placing it angled towards a window corner.

Renko wondered why he took one of his bags from the luggage they placed above them, until he turned his watch computer on and slipped his glasses on his eyes.  From another pocket in his jacket, he took out the gloves and silently gave it to her, which she took and wore them.  She knew what where this was going, so she prepared herself for the second part of the investigation.  The train ride would last almost about 53 minutes or less, so time was against the two if they continued right now.  Not to mention, the two did not finish the investigation yet and though it would have been much better to continue it at Bo-Tokyo Station, that place would most likely be crowded.  Much worse, had they left later, her train back home would guarantee her stranded in Tokyo for some time, which she would have to wait for a few more hours for another train to pick her up.

“Before I like to continue our investigation for Merry, I have to show you something,” Eiji began; turning on his camera glasses and pressed several buttons on its side.  “It might interest you.”

“Hmm,” Renko curiously responded, wondering how it would interest her. “Is it related to the investigation?  We’re almost out of time though, you know…”

“Oh, it’s actually important to know it...  And it won’t take long.”

Once Eiji had the video ready for perusal, he took off his glasses and offered it to her.

“Here.”

“Huh?  But I thought that your computer watch was tied to your glasses.”

“Sure it is, but it doesn’t work the other way around in terms of shared controls.”

Renko took the glasses in her hands and saw the controls lined up on the side of them.  They seemed to look weird, considering that the technology on these glasses were severely outdated.

“Where’s the play button,” she asked Eiji.

“The left side,” he answered, showing her where it was.  “It should be the largest button, near the lens

“Ah, thanks.”

Renko wore the eyewear, seeing many files lined up on a transparent screen and a highlighted file among the roster.  She could partially see through the screen, looking at Eiji and the interior of the train.  During classes, she had worn virtualization gear before and was familiar on using the controls.  However, this was the first time in a while that she had to manually use the controls on any eyewear device with her hands instead of relying on her eyes to select menu options.  Though she understood that it was part of his job to understand how old technology worked in order to repurpose and fix them upright, she found herself curious that he actually had an interest in old devices from a few generations back.  After all, any normal person would most definitely be more interested in improving their devices instead of keeping outdated technology around.  She pressed the play button, which the highlighted video began to darken her vision of the train.

The train continued to move and Eiji saw from the corner of his eye two passengers sitting at a bench distant apart from where they were at.  They seemed to be dressed for some cultural occasion and at first, he found it weird that something had happened in Kyoto today.  He examined the two that sat far away from him and Renko, noticing that they did not bring any luggage with them and that they were transparent to his eyes.  He had visualized spirits and phantoms ever since he discovered this ‘Hakurei’ seal on his right palm in middle school and had focused his vision to intentionally see only what was important over the years.

Seeing that Renko was visualizing part of his past in what he saw at that fateful day, he decided to zone in on the two from a distance.  Having a good look at one of the ghosts, he realized that the spiky-haired young man was in military fatigues that seemingly belonged to the military of the United States commissioned many years ago.  Shaking his head from questioning what era the two once lived in, he switched his gaze to the pigtailed female who wore a school uniform consisting of a plaid skirt that matched with the sleeveless top and a white blouse underneath it.  His eyes widened when he saw that this woman had a hat that closely resembled the hat that Renko currently wore.

A gut feeling told him that the man in the military fatigues was probably who possessed him last night.

_“…So, this is the young man you’ve picked out to liberate the land we evacuated long ago,” the woman commented on Eiji, talking to the man that was beside her.  “Care to explain why you picked him out of many to be our redeemer, Tsuken?”_

_Tsuken looked at Eiji, in which the two locked eyes at one another.  This was the first time that Eiji had physically seen who had been taking over his body recently._

_“He has the most skill, compared to the people of today,” Tsuken began, still locking his gaze at Eiji as if he was reading his mind.  “In fact, he has proven himself to have the most responsibility in terms of being in the line of duty.”_

_“Elaborate for me, please.”_

_“Throughout his journey in martial arts, he had developed Mushinryu Ninjutsu by himself, despite the fact that the only records ever made on this offshoot military art was in a video game series that had ended several generations ago.  Additionally, he has proven himself to be a responsible person by staying loyal on several career paths, starting as a Janitor for a clinic, which brought him here and now as a Junker part of a partial government service.  There were tough times that he fought through, especially being unlucky with others back then, but he still kept positive and useful values high above trivial desires.”_

_“But his emotions are still unchecked, Tsuken.  We can’t let an emotionally unstable person inherit our way of war, let alone, a person who has not yet discovered what lies ahead of him after what he has seen through the years.”_

_“… There’s also another reason why I chose him, Sumireko-chan, but that will come in time.  Sure, he has much to learn, but with time, he may surpass us both, I assure you…”_

Eiji sighed as he zoned in on their conversation.  He was partially unsure of what they were talking about, but he seemed to be disappointing the two.  He shook his head, shaking any thought of doubt within himself, when he heard Renko slightly shriek in horror.

“What’s wrong, Renko,” Eiji asked, seeing becoming slightly startled at her shriek.

“This scene I’m looking at,” Renko responded.  “What are those two women doing?”

 

It was a dark night Renko watched through the small frames the glasses provided when she pressed the play button.  She heard the breath of a young man emulating from the glasses, most likely Eiji’s voice.  Assuming that the glasses belonged to Eiji, this must have been his point of view at some time ago.  She looked at the upper left corner of the left lens, noticing the date which this recording was made.  Apparently, it was March 6, 2068, roughly four years or more ago at 11:22 PM.  It seemed as if Eiji was dashing through a neighborhood, apparently looking for someone.

 _I wonder why he’s running around in the middle of the night,_ she thought, having a vague idea that something must have happened at this night.

A few minutes had elapsed on the video and Eiji arrived at a scene full of flying colors in mid-air several distances ahead of him.  Renko wanted to jump in the scene, herself and see what was going on at the time, which seemed to be exactly what he was going to do.  As he approached to where he could closely see what was going on, however, his view quickly diverted away to view some bushes, then a tree.  He jumped in the bushes, finding a good hiding place to safely view the scene as it continued to unfold.  Why he jumped in the bushes became evident as his vision made it apparent: He was witnessing a murder between two women unfold in the view of the camera.

The view began to shake as she witnessed the upcoming scene in the video, forcing her eyes to struggle with gazing at who was in the scene.  It turned out to be a blonde girl and a woman.  One of them was grasping the other on the neck with her left hand, lifting her in the air while maniacally laughing, while the other was struggling to free herself.  With her free hand, she loosened it and suddenly, a black aura emulated around the entire hand.  The woman who was grabbed by her prey was already cut up and bleeding, a sign that battle had occurred between the two before this scene happened.  She saw a ribbon tied to the girl’s left head, which she recognized that a similar girl from weeks ago had the very same appearance as this one.  In fact, the voicing of her was precisely the same.

“You did well to impress me,” the little girl said grasping the woman.  “Alas, I’m hungry, and I really do not wish to waste any more time playing around with you.  After all, you scientists are always so troublesome to silence off…”

“Gak pfh huuk,” the woman responded, barely able to breathe from her grasp.

“What’s that, you say?”  The girl slightly loosened her grip onto her neck, letting her breathe.

“You’ll never git away wit this, Rumia” the other blonde woman answered, trying to spit at her, only to fail doing so.  The girl grasping her on the neck restored her grip, choking her slowly to death.  The camera view began to shake as the man with the camera began to take short breaths.  Renko couldn’t believe that the little girl’s name actually fit the very same girl’s name that Eiji saved her that fateful night.  Come to think of it, wasn’t her name the very same one that Yukari yelled to that little girl during that night?

“That’s it, you’re dead!”  With the blackened hand, the girl impaled her through the victim’s slim stomach, causing her to spew blood from her mouth.  Grasping the hand that impaled her stomach, dark aura was sent throughout the surrounding area of the inflicted wound, to which the girl pulled her hand out of there, pulling out a dark purple-like flame from her body with the very same hand.  She gripped her hand that seemingly burnt in her hands, causing it to disperse.  Blood had gushed out from the recently made wound as she silently tried to scream in agony.  The girl loosened her grip on her and pushed her to the ground as her seemingly lifeless body fell down flat on her back, letting her shriek die out.  Renko saw that Eiji’s hand gripped one of the bush branches in fear as he frantically was shaken by the scene.  She and him could do nothing but watch as the gruesome scene unfolded.

When Renko saw this scene happen in front of her eyes, she shrieked, which brought the very same person in the glasses beside her his attention.  He asked her what was wrong and she responded that a rather gruesome scene was unfolding in front of her eyes.

“Oh, that,” he responded.  “Hmph…  Keep watching.  The video has not arrived at the scene that may pique your interest.”

Renko distastefully did so, despite not wanting to continue viewing the footage anymore because of the scene she just witnessed.  She pulled herself together, now seeing that the man within the screen she was in perspective with yelled Elza’s name in horror, emerging from his hiding place.  Wait, this couldn’t be the very same Elza Shannon her new sealing club member told her about, right?  The little girl became astonished by his sudden appearance and scuttled away from the body, leaving him and the woman alone.  He ran towards the gravely wounded woman, kneeling down on her and began to cry.  His words became muttered, stating to himself about how he regretted not returning her feelings as a mutual love and why he didn’t return the feelings sooner than he planned to.  The woman opened her eyes and looked at him.

“I-it’s all right, Eiji-kun,” Elza told him, one of her hands going off-camera from his field of vision.  “Prom… Promise me one thing before… *cough cough*…”

“W-what… it,” Eiji sobbingly spoke, trying in vain to patch her up.  Each breath she took worsened her efforts in trying to cling for life.

“Pro…kyo…fr…it…f…”

With a long exhale, Elza’s life expired in front of his eyes.

“No, no, no, this can’t be happening!  Hang in there, Elza-san!!”

Eiji frantically reached in his pocket where he had his holo-phone was placed in, only to find that his phone was not in there.  Could he have dropped it while running?   He quickly stood up, looking around for it in a state of panic.  He could have sworn that he took his phone with him.  Feeling flustered, he began to pace around, not sure of what to do.

“Looking for this,” a young woman’s voice suspiciously asked him, holding his phone on her left hand.  He recognized his phone.  It had a keychain shaped like a shield on it.  He tried to take the phone, ignoring the woman that had it, only to stagger while reaching for it.  She had pulled the phone away from him.

“Look at me, human,” she told him.  He reluctantly obeyed, seeing a young woman in a purple Chinese-style tabard with various trigrams over a pale pink western-style dress.   “This secret WILL be between the two of us.  Do not, and I mean it, do not even _dare_ tell the authorities or anyone else about what happened here.  If you do, then I will personally find and destroy what you cherish so much.  Got that?!”

“Y-yes.  I swear will not tell anyone about the incident here.”

This woman gazed into his eyes, making sure that he was not lying to her at all, much more, making sure that he was not going to pull a fast one.  She stared at the young blonde woman on the screen as a long silence was drawn between the two. While Eiji seemed to be in a distressing sob via audio, Renko recognized the mob cap that this woman was wearing, which resembled the very same hat that both Maribel and the woman in purple wore.

As Renko stared at the woman projected on the lens of the glasses, she recalled back memories at this very date that displayed on the left lens of the glasses, remembering herself that she and Maribel were preparing for the Higan Festival that week.  Maribel wanted to go to Tokyo on this day after finding a costume she liked in Tokyo, which was during Tokyo International University’s long break period.  During that time, her friend was excited to go to the Higan Festival because she had seen a boundary that was hidden within an event when they went there once before.  She requested the Sealing Club to secretly look into it during the event, to which Renko agreed.  With the similarities she had witnessed between Yukari and Maribel’s appearance, either her missing friend had some sort of twisted twin sister, or what just happened in his perspective during this time of night was the very reason why she wanted to go to Tokyo so badly that day.

“Good.  I’m glad that we are on the same page.”  She let him go and he began backing away from her.  His blue phone at the time was thrown at him, to which he fumbled trying to catch it as it almost hit his glasses.  “Don’t bother calling anyone with it; the batteries are dead within them.”

The camera stood still for a second, to which Renko empathetically knew he was in total shock at this point.  He turned around, running away the moment he pocketed his phone without saying a word.  The sudden appearance of this woman in the scene, combined with the little girl feasting upon the lifeless Elza caused him to not want to look back.  He continued to run, which the screen began to blacken as he muttered words that were too vague to decipher on the viewer’s perspective. 

The footage that played on the glasses ended, which flickered back to the menu screen.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Boyu Shinkansen continues onward to Tokyo, Renko's investigation is pushed to further heights after viewing Eiji's recordings of a segment of his past, as well as being revealed that he possesses the second piece of the weapon the projection of the Sealing Club were trying to assemble together last night. After the two pieces were assembled together, she was shown a way to repeat the past once more by the projection of her club at the time...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not claim to be an expert at Shinto. Please keep in mind that my perspective on how its religion came to be and what its worshippers believe in may be different from what others have been taught.
> 
> Also, I plan on quickening the uploading schedule of chapters. I fear real-life events have pushed me to doing so at the moment...

Renko took off the glasses and gave it back to Eiji, now noticing that both the train had moved and the kaleido-screens on the windows were displaying on the train’s windows.

Key information about her investigation had just presented itself to her.  The woman in purple intrigued her the most, especially when the appearance of her in the film was uncanny to Maribel at the time.  Eiji gave Renko a minute or two to gather her thoughts, while he crossed his arms, glasses on hand as he looked at the projected scenery in front of the two; paying no mind to the screen that was hovering above his watch.  The kaleido-screens displaying in this train had reminded him of his high school years, where he took this train for the first time with his high school class to attend a Noh performance at Kyoto.  He gave off a sigh of relief as one of his memories of his past was finally shared by someone who was similar to him in terms of seeing the world at a different perspective.

“Now you know why I’m after the small girl that attacked us during that night,” Eiji told Renko.  “She poses a threat to Tokyo and someone, if anyone, has to stop her before terror strikes upon the citizens...”

Renko paused for a moment as Eiji told her that, clearing her thoughts back to the present.

“Wait a minute, her name was Rumia, right,” Renko asked.  “And why did you lie about our involvement with the Yakuza?”

“Rumia, huh… Never heard that name before, though I better keep that in mind, should I encounter her again…  Ah, I’m sorry about saying that the Yakuza injured us.  It’s because Jun seems to not believe in the existence of mythical beings that I had to make an excuse, since normal people do not believe in Youkai.”

“M-mm…”

Eiji lowered the slender bag onto his lap and looked at his right hand.  Unknown to Renko, the symbol that he saw on his hand was glowing, which he gripped his hand in an effort to hide it.  One of the ghosts, most likely Tsuken, shook his head and smiled back at him.

“I’m not exactly sure about how to deal with her, but I could tell you this: I have acquired a secret item that may be able to stop her from causing any more harm.  The only problem, though, is that I have yet to see what it could do, especially when I need more time to practice on using it.”

“Huh… You mean whatever is in this bag will stop Rumia?”

“Uh-huh.  In fact, I believe that you might be intrigued in seeing what’s in here as well.  Just to let you know, I may have repainted it red, so bear with the color change…”

Eiji placed both his hands on the bag and began to unravel the bag, which Sumireko, Tsuken, and Renko took a close at it.  Though he wondered why the spirits were too interested in such an object, time was not so forgiving to be distracted, given the fact that 10 minutes had passed by.  He revealed the lacquered yari shaft to the three, which all three were stunned, specifically Renko, which her eyes widened her eyes as she saw it.  Aside from the obvious color change, the design seemed to be the same as the spear that the Sealing Club from the projection had assembled.  There was a slender rectangular hole running through a corner on the shaft.  This was where the spear’s head was secured at, which three circular ones running alongside it proved evident to secure it in place.  Out of the three, the middle one was dented into a comma-shape pattern, whereas the rest pierced through the rectangular hole, proceeding through the other side of .

Renko examined the wooden stick, touching its surface with her hands.  The wood had an aged appearance and was preserved rather well thanks to his work in lacquering.  Had it not been coated with lacquer when it was found, the edges would have definitely been chipped off and would have been reduced to nothing.  An information screen suddenly popped out of the pole as she tapped it with one of her fingers, which jumped in front of her.  Seeing the name of the spear as the _Heavenly Jeweled Spear,_ she became surprised, now mentally demanding if this pole was the very same part that she and Maribel used to assemble together that spear in the projection from yesterday. 

Although this program he used had information regarding how to construct and deconstruct items together, Eiji had no clue how this unknown database suddenly appeared before itself to the two, until he gazed at Tsuken, who must have tampered with the watch somehow last night.  Shaking his head, he looked at the screen above his wrist, skimming through the information about the spear.  Seeing Renko looking at the information at a different screen in front of her, he too looked through the screen in front of him, as he too wanted to confirm the spear he found long ago was indeed a Shinto relic.

“How long ago did you acquire this spear shaft,” Renko asked after skimming through the information presented to her, pushing the screen towards Eiji.

“Nearly two years ago,” Eiji answered back, waving his hand to scroll down on the screen as her screen was absorbed by his.  “Why did you ask?”

“Ah, I see… I’m just asking when exactly, that’s all…”

Minutes flew by by as the two finished skimming through information.  Apparently, this spear shaft claimed to be part of a set that combined together into a ceremonial spear.  It was largely involved in the creation of Japan, according to the _Kojiki,_ an important collection of Shinto records in ancient matters and its religious creation.

Although the description of the spear stated that it was the _Heavenly-Jeweled Spear_ , something did not add together to Renko as she looked at the picture of the object.  If memory served her well at the time, this spear shaft did not resemble anything like the one she saw in the cave at the Zenkou-ji temple at Nagano Province with Maribel.  In fact, the entire design on the weapon she had seen yesterday were radically different from the picture feed the information about the spear she was seeing on screen.  One difference in comparison was the imprinted pink cherry blossom patterns that were on the spear she noticed yesterday, which was not there on the description.

“Something isn’t right,” she commented while she examined the spear.  “This spear shaft I’m seeing now does not match the picture feeds here.”

“Hmm,” he said, comparing how different the spear was on the picture was to the part he had on hand.  “It appears that Izanagi-no-Mikito was a warrior, according to Shinto tales.”

“…What do you mean?”

“From my speculation, it seems that he probably had more than just one spear or weapon at the time.  Take it from me, who’s been familiar in the martial arts for quite some time.  Assuming from what pictures describe him as, he must have been a skilled combatant of his caliber at the time, diverse in many different types of weapons to meet the situations he faced on the battlefield.”

“Huh…  Wait, I thought he was a god, as what I heard from others…”

“True, but he must have assumed some human form if he was to sustain himself in the mortal plane.  I’m sure it was the same for the notable gods during their respective lifespans.”

“Hmm hmm…  So, you’re insisting that this isn’t the _Heavenly Jeweled Spear,_ then.”

“That’s right…  Whatever it is, though, it might have some connection to the religion itself, despite the fact that it’s an entirely different weapon…”

Seconds passed by as Eiji looked at Renko, seeing that she had apparently spaced out.

“Something on your mind, Renko-san,” he asked.

“Well, yeah…  From what I saw in the video you’ve shown me, that woman in Chinese and Western fashion…  She looked so familiar to Merry...”

"Huh…  So that was who the third blonde woman was back t-”

“-No, that would not be her at that time, Eiji-kun.  Sure, the woman in there may have looked like Merry, but I know that she would not act like that back then.”

“Then…  Are you saying that it might be someone else?”

“Yes, I am… I just… I just don’t have a clear picture of exactly who she might be.”

The only person that Renko knew who had worn an outfit similar to what Eiji’s recording caught was Yukari, the woman she had met weeks ago before suffering through a leg injury.  Though she knew exactly who this woman’s name was because she met her some time ago and wanted to confess to him about her acquaintance with her, the possibility of him not believing her crept through her mind.  She sat back on her seat with a worried look, uncertain if she should reveal her name.

The investigation itself has just taken a turn back into the right direction and she owed it to her newest member in guiding her here and now.  She put away the mirror that was seated to her right in the purse and reached for a gem in her pocket.  After all, the second hole on the spear piqued her interest, making her wonder if that jewel she carried in her purse, would be able to insert in it.

She felt a piece of paper inside her purse with her fingers when she reached for the magatama.  Clearly, she did not remember putting any paper in her purse at all when she gathered her belongings she dumped out for the jewel last night.  Wondering what it was, she pulled it out to reveal a small sealed envelope.  In front of it read an instruction to open it when she was away from Eiji.

“What’s that,” Eiji asked Renko, noticing a white envelope on her hands.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Renko answered, suddenly feeling slightly dizzy as she pulled it to herself.  “I have to go use the restroom.  Hope you could wait for me for a while.”

“Okay.  Take your time.”

Renko stood up, bringing the envelope with her as she stumbled her way to the next car.  Her vision was off-balance, which the kaleido-screens that were displaying through the window screens were not helping her as she made way to the restroom, barely managing to arrive there without incident.  Once she walked in the ladies room, she closed the door behind her and looked at the mirror, taking in deep breaths.  Though the virtual headsets she had worn for school assignments did not cause any health problems, the glasses she had worn must have caused slight motion sickness effect for first-time users like her.  Turning on the faucet, she took off her gloves, threw water on her face, and quickly washed up, looking at the envelope that she placed by the sink after regaining her balance of sight.  She grabbed it, opening the letter, now that she was isolated from Eiji.

 

_Miss Usami_

_By the time you’re reading this, I am watching the two of you from a near distance from Eiji Kuroda, while he already shown you what happened nearly four years ago.  As you know from last night, He is a spirit medium and not only could he see spirits, he also possesses the potential to channel spirits within himself, while retaining both his and their memories together in order to achieve what needs to be done.  However, with the way he is now – Remorseful of his own past mistakes - his abilities are hampered down to only visualizing these spirits that float around him.  At most, he could do little to help you any further in your investigation in Maribel at this point until he has accepted the fact that these powers are a part of him…_

_The path of vengeance he is treading through is leading him towards a dark path in life, and I fear that it may consume him in the end.  However, I too cannot do much to help him until the timing is right.  The best you could do for now is to see through his decisions and aid him when needed.  I know that he may have a short temper and unclear attitude at times, but he is a person that can be counted on in times of need, which his altruistic values will be the key to succeeding in this investigation of yours._

_Onto a more contemporary note, Eiji has not noticed that he is being watched by many, despite the fact that the signs are obviously around him.  One fact to consider is that Yukari rice keeps appearing in his rice cooker in times of danger.  I advise you to be careful from now on and avoid jumping into deep ends like what happened yesterday.  Danger can appear at any time, so be on the alert for either the little girl with the red ribbon, or the woman in purple.  I hope the two of you a safe investigation in the end as I will try my best to safeguard yours and his movements._

_With concerning regards:_

_Yasashi Tsuken_

_PS: Sorry about last night.  I must have mourned about the United States.  It’s just the fact that something terrible happened to that place at the time when I was still alive, to which I suddenly left it before witnessing what transpired.  Please don’t ask Eiji about it, for he has nothing to do with what happened in my past…_

The entire letter was written in English, so Renko had to read it through three times before understanding what was written.  After doing so, she compared the writer to Eiji, himself, finding out that their personalities were strikingly different.  She gave out a long sigh, then chuckled and smiled with a newfound hope.  While she questioned whether if the writer knew of this woman in purple or not, she knew that the two were helping her investigate on her predicament in their own ways.  She also felt relieved, to which this spirit confirmed her suspicion that Eiji was not an American at all.  Slipping the letter back in the envelope, she looked to the mirror, taking in a deep breath, and regained her center of sight.

As she slipped the gloves back on and stepped out of the restroom, she saw two familiar spirits sitting near a table on train seats.  Maribel had the outfit she saw on Eiji’s video feed, causing her to slightly jump back in surprise if she acting the same way to her projected self.  The two seated themselves at a table near a window seat seemingly acting normal, having their belongings scattered around a table.

She saw her guide seated at a corner at one of the table areas of this car, looking at the two with the staff he shown her earlier on hand.  He must have begun the investigation ahead of time.  Then again, she did not even give him permission to touch her bag, nor see the jewel that she had hidden in her bag.  Slightly ticked off at him for not getting her permission to look through her purse, she joined up with him, watching the two from afar.  He had his hand placed on his head, focusing his gaze at the projections as he concentrated on the conversation.

“What are they discussing about,” Renko asked Eiji, sitting down across from him.

“Reminiscing about this train ride they had long ago,” he answered.  “From the looks of the two, one of them seems to be having second thoughts about this adventure they’ve originally planned.  The other is trying to cheer her up, stating that this was just like one of their many adventures they had.”

The projections held true to this claim Eiji made as he continued explaining what was going on between the two, which Renko turned to see the two projections interact with one another.  One of them, most likely looking like the Maribel in the Chinese battle dress Renko knew back then, buried her head on the table, appearing unstable as she hid her head to her projected self.  The other projection, which was a slightly younger version of Renko, had her hand on her shoulder, reassuring her that nothing was wrong about the adventure Maribel had arranged today.  Renko felt a bit down, seeing that her friend was like this back then and that this projected of herself took it for granted that nothing was going to happen in this adventure.

And then, Renko began hearing voices within her mind, voicing in sync with their mouths…

 _"Hey, Merry, what seems to be the matter,”_ The blue projection of the brown-haired young woman with a mushroom hat asked a blonde woman, who wore a Chinese battle dress, feeling concerned when her friend buried her head on the table.

 _“I’m worried about today, Renko,”_ the dressed-up young woman responded, looking at her friend with seemingly weary eyes.  _“I’m not sure what will happen once we’ve pierced through the dimension barrier that lies within this train…”_

_“We’ll be fine, Merry.  It’ll be just like our other adventures, I’m sure.”_

_“I hope so…  I just have this feeling that something horrible might happen to one of us…”_

On the desk between each other were their belongings and the completed spear that the two had put together the other day.  Eiji explained to Renko what they were doing here in this train as the projections continued talking to one another: The two had discovered a boundary in this train was indeed calling for one of them to unravel it, which this ceremonial spear they had completed was the key to piercing through it.  What he just explained to her coincidentally matched up with the voices she began hearing in her mind.

“Wait, you’re saying that there’s a distortion in the boundary in this train as we speak,” Renko interrupted him.

“That’s what one of them told the other earlier, yes” he responded, going back to the discussion at hand with the spirits.  “Taking this train to find the boundary reminded the two of a time that they were here once before, discussing about the artwork of the kaledo-screens that were around them.  At that time, it was Merry who found the distortion around the area they were at.  The problem they were facing now is the timing – when will this train arrive at their spot to breach and enter into it.”

The two friends continued to briefly discuss at the matter, until Maribel uncurled herself and stood up from her seat, her lips reading ‘ _The boundary is close.  I can feel it._ ’  Renko’s holographic projection still remained seated as Maribel took the spear in her hands, telling her to remain seated and out of the way.  The two looked at a window in the middle of the train.  Eiji and Renko noticed that they were passing by a kaleidoscopic picture of a close shot of Mount Fuji.  Why they were facing this picture of the mountain was evident as Maribel seemed to be telling Renko to stay down as she readied the spear behind her.  She did so, which Maribel swung the spear sideways, making the spear’s blade sliced through the train’s window.

Just then, the projections began to static, signaling that the two had discovery a boundary within this window.  Though the boundary cut through by Maribel was beginning to open itself from the spear cut, the distortion did not show itself to Renko and Eiji to see in the present.

“We have to follow them now, Eiji,” Renko exclaimed to him, standing up.  He did not respond back to her.  “Eiji-kun?”

Renko turned to see that Eiji was struggling with a myriad of floating red orbs around him.  He was clutching his forehead with both his hands, grasping it in anguish to try to suppress the sudden pain that popped in his mind.  These ghosts had suddenly appeared around him as he was trying to maintain the projections of Renko and Maribel, shouting within his mind in anger and sorrow in an effort to break his concentration.

“What’s the matter, Eiji-kun?”

“Evil spirts… Can’t… Concentrate…”

“…wha-”

“ACK!!”

Eiji threw himself on the table, almost slamming his head into it doing so.  Renko didn’t know where these ghosts were coming from until she noticed that they were flying through the kaleidoscopic projections at the window.  She examined the projection around them, realizing that the train had arrived in a sea of bamboo forest, which she recognized the area as Aokigahara, a bamboo forest that was known for the number of multiple suicide cases throughout history.  This forest claimed to have hosted angry spirits within the area, driving those who were sensitive such as Maribel mad.

This alone confirmed the fact that he was a spirit medium; meaning that traveling through here had a likelihood of causing him to lose concentration at what he was doing.  Renko quickly assumed the controls of his computer in place of him thanks to the gloves she wore.  Despite not knowing the controls of this highly technological piece of hardware, she did know the basic functions of similar devices thanks to prior classes involving the use of such a device.  As she arrived at the shutdown option screen, she noticed that the staff on the table was drawing in the spirits around the two.

 _Shall we go,_ Renko heard from the holographic Maribel, who held out her hand to her projected self.

Her mind was drawn to the attention of the two, which she pushed the screen to Eiji, who was struggling against the spirits.

_It won’t remain open for long, so this probably is our only window of opportunity in breaching through._

“W-what are you doing, Renko-san,” he questioningly yelled at her, confused at why she pushed the screen to him instead of shutting down the program in order to save him.

_S-sure_

“Just hang on a few minutes, Eiji-kun,” Renko sharply answered, taking the staff in her hands.  “I have to try something.”

“This isn’t the time to fool aro-AHH!”

The staff gave off a red glow in her hands as she gripped it.  Although she knew that he had taken the jewel in her open purse, she did not notice that he had attached the very same jewel onto the second hole, which was giving off a sickly green glow of its own as well, drawing in the red spirits within its core.  She walked to where the projections were at; where Maribel swung the spear at.

 _I know this spear isn’t complete, but I have to try to follow those two while I have the chance.  I… I need to know now what happened after we walked through the boundary,_ she thought, readying the spear like how Maribel did so in the projections and looked at Eiji, who seemed to be struggling against the red orbs that surrounded him.  _I’m sorry, Eiji...  I hope you will forgive me just this once…_

Renko looked at the window that Maribel sliced through, seeing that the two projections of the ladies had already gathered what they brought together for their trip. Seeing the two, now holding hands together, made her emotionally tear up as she approached where Maribel swung the spear at.  Seeing herself about what they had discovered, she felt regretful at how her projected self was like back then.  She positioned herself in the exact position Maribel was just moments ago, spear in both her hand.  The purple haze began to surround the projection of her former Sealing Club member, causing her to hesitate for a few seconds as the two began to walk towards the window.

_Woosh_

Driven by emotion, she swung the incomplete spear sideways, exactly like how Maribel did so moments ago.  Instead of an interdimensional boundary opening up like before, nothing happened as she nearly hit through the large screen kaleido-screen window, the incomplete spear swinging through the two women.  She readied herself and swung once more, swinging at the projection.  This time, the projections dissipated into small particles as the spear went through the two.  Noticing that nothing happened a second time, she tried to ready the spear a third time, wondering why this boundary that claimed to be in front of her did not show itself.  Her hands became shaky, then seemingly heavy as she became distraught.

“Why,” she cried, dropping the incomplete item on the ground.  “Why is this boundary not opening as I swung this spear like Merry?!”

Eiji took in several deep breaths, sitting back on the chair in relief.  He managed to block the ghosts’ hold onto him thanks to the majority of the floating orbs drawn by the spear shaft Renko took with her, which were driven away by the two swings she attempted.  This bought him enough time to regain himself and assume control of the computer screen, quickly pressing the shutdown option that was on the screen that Renko threw in front of him.  He stood up, walking towards Renko, both angered and mentally exhausted as the kaledo-screen changed from the bamboo forest to a distant artwork of Mount Fuji.

“We’re done here,” Eiji tiringly told her, picking up the yari shaft and removed the gem from it, seeing that it was brighter than it was when he saw it before.

Renko did not respond as he picked the spear off the ground, slumping onto the ground and began to cry in disbelief.  Eiji placed the gem in front of her and stood up and began to walk back to their seat back at the previous car.  She looked at him as he was leaving her behind.

“Why didn’t you hold out longer,” she asked as he made his way back.

He didn’t respond back, ignoring her while slowly shaking his head.

“Eiji-kun!”

Sorrow overtook her as she finally her held tears, covering her face in the midst of the projections.  She had made great progress into this investigation.  In fact, the two were so close to finding a way that would lead them to the truth.  With the sudden appearance of this ghostly dilemma in Aokigahara, the remaining time they had before the train arrived back to Tokyo was promptly consumed by despair.  This investigation was now stymied out, forcing Renko back to square one, while leaving Eiji disillusioned about her recent action.  Unable to continue the investigation, the two remained separated for the rest of the return to Tokyo as the train continued to move forward.

 

Now having their belongings in order, the train opened its doors upon arrival in the station, which Eiji and Renko emerged from its doors and entered into the empty station, bags on hand.  This time, the two did not forget anything in the train, nor would they be willing to jump back on the train at all after what had happened twenty minutes ago.  The two entered the platform and exited the station into the semi-busy streets of Tokyo after having their luggage in check.  Renko cried for the rest of the trip after what happened in their investigation alongside with the credits music reeling as the Kaleido-screens were playing around her.  Eiji could do nothing to comfort her due to mental exhaustion, especially after not answering her when she demanded one.

He began walking away from her after silently giving her luggage back, which Renko was shocked at how he was acting.

“Wait, Eiji-kun,” she demanded him.

He stopped and looked at her.

“What is it,” he asked back, not wanting to look at her.

“Sorry to hear about what happened to your girlfriend at the time and about earlier…  I really mean it.”

“I know, Renko-san...  I know…”

He felt remorseful for how he acted to her recently after hearing her apologize to him.

“You know, I could walk with you to the station to see you off.”

“I’ll be fine, but thanks for offering help once more.  Jun will be waiting for me there, anyways.  After all, you’ve done enough to help me.  In fact, I owe you, someday…”

Renko walked away from the beleaguered Junker, who had done so much to help her despite being pressured to aid her in her investigation.  Heavily sighing, Eiji hoped that he had done well in aiding her in her investigation, turning and walking away from Renko with his own luggage, now heading back to his parents’ home at Bunkyo, Tokyo.  She stopped for a moment after seconds, looking back to see that they were well away from one another from the entrance they parted ways.  Taking out the brightened green gem that he gave back to her that she pocketed in her jacket, she wondered why it flashed so suddenly with life.

 _If Tsuken Yasashi is correct, then Eiji should know where Merry would be at. I’m sure of it,_ she thought, wiping her tears away as the gem slowly began to shine on her palms.  _Whether he likes it, or not, I’ll still need his help in finding her if I’m going to get anywhere with this investigation soon enough.  I just… need time to sort the information I gathered from this trip…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arc Two: Memorial Reminiscence COMPLETE!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jun once stated to Renko that there were others who were looking for Maribel as well as she was conducting her investigation. Well, it turns out that he was right, but for the wrong reasons. As he continued his work as a Translator, a French Fencing Grandmaster from the organization he works in: the International Youkai Exterminators' Agency (Shortened as I.Y.E.A.), shows up from the European Branch in order to begin an operation to apprehend a Rogue Agent, who turns out to be a person he knows...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arc Three: The Boundary Between Two Dimensions START

_Dame Cambria:_

_It has come to our attention that a rogue agent has been tampering with one of our databases in the Japan Branch of the International Youkai Exterminators’ Agency (I.Y.E.A).  We have initially left this agent alone to do whatever he/she wishes upon discovery a few months ago, for no negative threat has been present against us from this individual.  Recently, however, this agent had opened up a dimensional rift without supervision from our staff.  We’ve decided to apprehend this agent for questioning and sentencing._

_The data attached on this letter provides vital information about the suspect and the incident that happened a few days ago.  I suggest a review on it to devise a way to discreetly apprehend him without any major hostile conflict.  We want this agent to be alive and well, since something… peculiar had shown up about the suspect.  A contact of ours will meet you in the airport and will be acting as an assistant in the mission, so utilize him to the best of his abilities._

_There is also a third party after this agent as well, to which we are willing to cooperate with them, if possible.  Be sure to share information with them about the suspect upon contact, since they are our allies and are too looking into the matter at hand.  This agent must be stopped before the situation becomes grim..._

_With God Speed:_

_Mr. A_

An airplane labeled China Eastern Airlines soared through the starry sky of night, flying through various mountain passes and landmarks.  Within this aircraft, seated at a window view in the business class area, was a blonde, middle-height woman in her late 20s, clothed in stylish French fashion and a silk scarf.  She held the holo letter that was sent to her by the organization, which she carried with her in her bags when departing the estate that she initially served in.  After reading it, she found it strange that the European branch of this organization, the International Occult Hunters Society (I.O.H.S.) she partially associated herself with requested her to be temporarily transferred to the Japan branch in order to fulfill this mission that’s been passed to the other branches.  Although she’d rather be back in France on her usual guard duty, her peers and superiors requested that she should use this as a long vacation to relax from duty, considering her long years of service to her liege, to which she accepted the offer to do so.

She turned the envelope upside down and saw another microchip fall down on her lap.  Using her slender fingers, she carefully lifted up this chip and inspected it.

“Well, this flight is going to take quite a while,” she quietly told herself, minding the sleeping passenger beside her.  “Might as well examine the data the company gave me before this plane arrives in China.”

She brought her left arm up in front of her, looking at the digital watch she had on her wrist.  She pressed a button on the side, to which a small holographic screen popped out of the device and a blue light surrounded the center.  Looking at the watch, she found a small opening on the side and inserted the chip in it.  The data was uploaded to her watch in a matter of seconds, which she immediately scrolled and tapped through several apps and folders until she stopped at the one labeled ‘case files.’

Opening the file that came in with the data, she began to examine the contents.  The data contained the usual suspect profile, ranging from the name, gender, and a bit of description of their daily routine.  Apparently, this rogue agent had originally applied to the organization by way of special invitation from a recruitment official eight years ago, only to be rejected due to the fact that he was too young at the time with no special talent to curve the minimum age requirement to enter trials.  He was then tried once more by way of test subjecting in a medicinal project to cure an old disease that was surfacing back in Japan.  Immediately after the experiment, he was recruited in the agency after surviving through it.

A year had passed by since he was recruited at Tokyo International University and apparently, he killed the scientist that recruited him.  In response, the agency tried to apprehend him by falsely inviting him to a training facility in southern Japan to celebrate his victory on a tournament he had just entered.  Alas, he had escaped their grasp, leaving ten dead and fourteen of their finest recruits and trainers injured.  For four years he had remained in the shadows, giving the organization a hard time pinpointing his living quarters.  A few months ago, he surfaced by ordering crafting materials from the American branch online.  Though the American branch had the chance to report their discovery of this rogue agent, they decided to overlook the report and deliver the materials to him anyways partially due to his good deeds as a test subject of their branch, believing that nothing would happen in doing so.

Just a few days ago, a dimensional rift was cut opened on a train called the Boyu Shinkansen, en route to Tokyo, Japan.  This rift was located on the train route within Aokigahara Forest.  Two large energy waves to the north cleared a hefty number of bamboo trees upon its wake.  This had attracted the national media of Japan on that day, wanting to have the latest scoop of who could have done such a thing to the forest.  Fortunately enough, the Agency responded in due time to patch up the rift before the media caught what had really happened, fabricating a cover story for them.  Even though they had managed to patch up the rift in time, maintaining it was difficult due to staffing issues, forcing them to call upon others from the three branches around the world.

Though the database was mostly texted in Japanese, the agency had recently updated the universal language audio and text translator chip installed within the watches distributed to each active agent, allowing the woman to look at the article in her desired language.  She chose the article to be transcribed in English, since it was the most common languages of the world in today’s global society.  She sat back while reading through the information, contemplating a subtle approach to locating this agent, who had avoided being caught for so long.  The screen dimmed, for she began to stare off of the screen out of random annoyance.

 _Well, it was a miracle that my master bought this round-trip ticket class for me,_ she thought, looking through the articles to see what was around her.  _At least this trip to and from Japan will be comfortable to enjoy…  Still, the young mistress wanted me to buy a list of products for her while I’m there.  From what I’ve heard from her, a festival was supposed to occur this week in Tokyo.  It should be interesting to see what’s being offered there._

Her mistress she served as a bodyguard, Lilliana de Alexis, was coming of age in September.  She had a fascination for Japanese culture, in which once per year, an anime festival occurred in Paris, France.  She invited her to join in cosplaying with her in her favorite online multiplayer video game series: Blade Art Online.  She found it sad; however, that this year would be the last the two would be able to enjoy these kinds of festivals together, for her mistress would be loaded with more responsibilities in handling the estate and businesses that her parents have built up.  Wanting to savor their last year for one last festival, she instructed her knightly subject to buy a couple of things during her trip in Japan, ranging from costumes for this year’s coming festival in December, to collectables in Japan so she could cherish the memories the two had together.

She concentrated back to her work in front of her, staring back at the articles as the holographic screen restored its glow in front of her.

 _Still, even with the given information; where he works, lives at, and those he relates to, where he could exactly be at is going to be a problem,_ she thought, holding her chin with her left hand.  _Especially when he lives in a big city such as Tokyo…  Perhaps the partner I will be meeting with in Japan has an idea of where to locate him, since I’m not familiar with the city, itself._

She lowered the chair she was sitting on, leaning back and closed her eyes, thinking about what to do with this rogue agent once she found him.  Resorting to lethal force was made to be a last resort if he was not so cooperating.  Even if she had to do so, knocking him out with the weapons she brought with her for the mission was going to be difficult, given that they had pointy edges and the fact that he, himself, went toe-to-toe with the finest swordsmen the Japanese branch had to offer.  Continuing to read through articles and coming up with numerous game plans against this agent she was going to pursue soon, she slowly began to drift into a deep sleep, to which the screen in front of her began to dim and fade away.

 

A large airport that had a number of tram systems running about it was a mere few distance away as the blonde agent saw it through the window of the airplane she was riding on.  It was about time when she was arriving at Narita Airport, for pretty much the entire trip, aside from switching flights at China, was just reviewing the data she was given by the I.Y.E.A.  A sense of eagerness was rising within her, for she had hatched up several plans to catch this elusive agent.  After all, the sooner she got her mission done, the more time she had for the festival she planned on attending.

The plane touched down, the passengers disembarked and passed by airport security, and finally, the woman obtained her luggage from pickup, making her way to one of the trams that would bring her to the main lobby to meet her contact.  Because she had not learned the language, or how to read Japanese kanji, she relied heavily on her watch to visually translate what she saw, having a small transparent screen on display in front of her to filter out the foreign language into her desired translation.  The sight was almost as if she was watching one of those animes her mistress watched at night, to which some of the people within the tram thought that she was watching a show.

The tram arrived at the main lobby area.  Hauling her luggage with her, she walked out of it once the doors opened.  Walking through the doors and navigating through the second floor of the lobby, she saw her name written on a holo-sign, held up high by a young man with a black coat and cargo jeans.  Using her eyes to flip through the data, this must have been the description the organization gave to her about what her contact looked like.  She made her way to him, stopping in front of him while he lowered the sign and smiled.

“Nihon e yōkoso, Shārottokanburia-san,” he said to her, bowing to her presence.

“…Uh, greetings to you,” she responded, slightly confused at his formality.

“Ā, anata wa eigo o hanashimasu. Anata o itchi suru yō ni gengo o kirikae sasete kudasai....  Sorry about that, Charlotte.”

“It’s all right.  You must be Jun Satou.  I’ve heard about you being an up-to-coming translator for this branch.  It’s an honor to meet you in person.”

The two shook hands.

“The feeling’s mutual in meeting one of the grandmasters of fencing.  Anyways, shall we start familiarizing yourself with Japan?”

“Mmm. Let’s get going.”

Jun offered to carry some of Charlotte’s belongings, which she was appreciative of him in helping her.  For a native of Japan, his English articulation was above average.  Not to mention that he proved to be of use in helping transport her luggage.  Still, she was not quite fond of formalities, but it came with her reputation as one of the high-ranking fencers in France, so getting used to it was going to take time to settle in.

The two made their way to a parking garage located across the airport, arriving at a blue microvan parked in the third floor.  The company modified the interior of Jun’s vehicle for special occasions, ranging from the change of gear shift now located near the steering wheel, to the four seats in the first two rows of the van having the ability to rotate between passengers.  This van featured a sunroof in the back, as well as a small platform to stand on to look out of it.  The trunk of the vehicle was nearly empty, enabling a large amount of cargo or passengers to be loaded in there.  As Jun unlocked the doors, Charlotte opened the trunk and began to load her belongings in there.  He came to help her shortly after unlocking the door and in no time, they were on the road.

“So, where should we begin,” Jun asked Charlotte, seeing her in the mirror with her screen still on display.

She didn’t respond, as she stayed silent, still gazing through the filter that was in Japan.

“You should probably turn off that display… It’s kind of making me tense a bit.”

“O-oh, sorry, Jun…”

She dimmed the screen to the lowest possible settings, still keeping the text filter intact.

“It’s just that I was unable to learn the language in time, to which I’m using the translation chip the company recently updated our watches with.”

“I see… Well, just don’t have it on in public.  People here would probably misinterpret you ignoring them on purpose.”

Jun sighed as he continued watching the road.

“I’ll keep that in mind.  In any case, I’d like to go to my hotel room first,” Charlotte requested, opening a small holographic model of Tokyo with her watch.  She expanded it in between the two above the radio system.  A blinking red dot was on a building south west of their current location, represented with a blue arrow on the model.  Jun took a quick glance at the model, which a green trail was drawn on both the model and in front of the van.

“Understood,” he replied, “we’ll be there in about 15 to 20 minutes.”

The blue van drove through the city highway and streets, stopping by the occasional traffic and pedestrians.  Charlotte looked at the sights they drove through as they made their way to the hotel, surprised that the city seemed to be more dynamic and lively than Paris.  From what she heard from colleagues, evening was the best time to be around the urban area.  She looked forward to the going to the festival, then enjoying what the city had to offer to her before she went back to France next week.

“You know, just like any city, first timers tend to get lost in Tokyo,” Jun explained, slowly stopping the car as he closed in on a car.

“I’ve lived in Paris my entire life,” Charlotte retorted.  “I’m sure Tokyo is similar in terms of security, living standards, and general locations for resupplying.”

“Trust me; this city is a lot more than what it seems to the world.”

The minivan arrived at a parking area near the building the two were driving to.  Although Jun was not here to stay in a hotel with Charlotte, he insisted in helping her carry her belongings to her room in the hotel, given that she did not know the language at all.  While he took out the luggage from the trunk of the van, she looked at the rear and the blind spot mirrors and pointed at them, unbuckling the seatbelt that held her, and finally got out of the car.  After checking in with hotel reception, the two made their way to the hotel room numbered 1038.

“Well, here we are,” Jun said, putting down her belongings.  “Do you need help bringing your stuff inside?”

“I’ll be fine from here on out,” Charlotte answered.  “Thanks for your assistance.”

She opened her door and began to move her things inside.  Jun took out a business card and presented it to her as she was taking one of her suitcases inside.

“Call or text me if you need any assistance.  We’re going to be working together, so we have to keep in contact at an occasional basis.  In any case, I’ll leave you be for now.”

She nodded and then proceeded to carry the rest of her belongings, while he left her to settle in her room.    She noticed that he was shaking his head as he was walking away from her, which piqued her interest for a moment.  Thinking that nothing was on his mind, she brought in the last of her luggage inside the room and shut the door behind her, beginning to settle in her temporary home.  Knowing that she did not know the Japanese language, she would soon need to ask Jun to get her some food, much more, ask him about Japan later on. They were scheduled to go on a tour around Japan, which would most likely be the time when she would ask him about the Higan Festival that was going on this week.

She completed unpacking her spare clothes, placing them in the drawer the hotel provided.  Unlike most hotels, the room was quite small for her to unpack everything, forcing her to leave some of her luggage unpacked.  After placing the now unpacked suitcases on the floor at a corner and her phone on the desk, she jumped onto the bed and began to doze off.  For the first time, jet lag was settling in with her, which all she could do was let it happen as she crawled onto the pillow that awaited her arrival.

 

 _What have I got myself into?_ Jun thought, leaning back onto a corner of the elevator.  Keeping his composure in check, he got out of the elevator once it opened the doors to the lobby floor.  The organization he worked for told him that he was to be an English-Japanese translator for an important person, but he never expected that this person he was translating for was one of the royal knights of France.  Such a person to serve as a translator was going to be overbearing to him, especially when he briefly reflected on how long he has been working as one.  He sighed, making his way out of the lobby area to the parking garage he parked his van at.

Aside from the fact that the knight did not know Japanese at all, he found it strange that she was called from France to be temporarily transferred to Japan.  Generally, the organization would be able to handle this matter discretely, considering the fact that they were chasing a rogue agent in the shadows.  Instead of going back to his dorm room because he was dismissed by his client, he decided to hang around the hotel lobby.  Knowing from experience as a translator, Jun had to stay near his client because she might need to go to a nearby convenient store to get some provisions before calling it a night soon enough.

He entered the lounge area of the hotel, making himself some coffee, and sat at a dining table near a group of people conversing with one another.  The Higan Festival was underway this week, which meant that some hotels such as this one were packed with guests that were dressed in cosplay fashion.  In a day, near the end of the festival, he and Eiji planned to participate in the Holographic Fighting League event held in the Meiji Jingu at Shibuya.  His friend had three years in advance to prepare himself for this tournament, which he showed him his progress in creating his own armaments that he had crafted over the years yesterday.  For someone who did not have a lot of free time, Jun envied him that his friend had put a lot of effort in making the time to do so.  Although he was not quite handy like his friend, he pooled up six months of money he made in this job that he held to rent some equipment from the company’s armory to remedy his lack of preparations.

Shortly after making sure that his coffee was cool enough to drink, Jun took out his phone and checked his inbox.  According to the company, his partner was supposed to send him the information that contained the suspect that the two were working together to chase after.  He was not told much about who the suspect was by his superiors, given the fact that his security level was marginally lower than his partner.  Still, he hoped that they could get the job done as soon as possible, since long jobs were generally a pain for his studies in college.

Flipping through some messages, he exited the inbox and went to look at his gallery, noticing that there were pictures of colored strings strung with pictures, notes, and clothespins within his dormitory room.  He remembered that Renko had made this web of strings within the room a day after her trip with Eiji to Kyoto in order to pack the rest of her belongings in the apartment room she gave up paying for.  Still, he was worried about his roommate’s recent behavior these past few days.  According to her, she had been sleeping fewer hours than usual due to having dreams about previous Sealing Club activities.  He asked Eiji what he had told her by phone, which he responded thusly: ‘She had something to finish.  I just merely guided her to the right direction.’

His phone gave off a notification sound and a rumble, which drew his attention back to it.  Jun tapped the house button located at the bottom of the screen, bringing him back to the home screen.  A message was given to him, which he went to his inbox to see what it was.  It came from an unknown number; most likely from the woman he met earlier.  He tapped on the created message, which the text was in French with a file attached to it.  Turning on his watch, he brought the screen up to his eyes to filter and translate the message into his own respective language and began downloading the message.

Once the file was done downloading, Jun tapped on the open button, which brought him to the file.  His eyes widened as he became shocked to discover who the suspect was.  He placed both his arms on the desk, holding his head with his hands as he looked at it.

 _Dear me, what DID I get myself involved in_ , he shockingly thought to himself, slowly placing his phone down on the table shortly after looking at the file.

 

The phone rang as Charlotte laid on the bed in peace.  Initially, she did not want to answer it due to the fact that she felt disoriented, but once it rang for the third time, she crawled out of bed, stood up, and walked up to the desk, feeling groggy.  She looked at the caller ID to find out that it was one of the clients the organization transferred to her phone.  Taking the phone on her hands, she tapped on the ANSWER button that was flashing and pressed the speaker button upon answering the call.

“I.Y.E.A. representative, speaking,” she told the client.

There was no response.

“How can I help?”

“…You don’t speak Japanese,” the client asked her.

“I just transferred here from France.  It’ll take me a while before I know how to adapt to it.”  Charlotte pulled up the chair that was backed into the desk and sat on it, leaning back while feeling tired.

“I see… In any case, it is done.  He’ll be available for interrogation as soon as you’re ready.”

“Well done...  Do you know where he would be at in the next day?”

“Last time I’ve heard, he is currently living at his parents’ house.  You should check there at your convenience.”

“I see.  Thanks for your cooperation in this operation.”

“You’re welcome; ah, one more thing!”

Charlotte was about to hang up her phone, when she heard his client urging her to stop.”

“Hm?  What is it?”

“Please rescue my son.  He’s been missing in Japan for a long time…  I fear this person you’re pursuing knows the whereabouts of him.”

“…Considering the fact that it’s been over two years since he’s been missing, I won’t guarantee you good news about him, though…  We’ll do what we can once we get the answers from him.”

“…Thanks…”

Charlotte ended the call, spinning the chair to the desk and placed her arm on it, laying her head down on it.  This pursuit, to her opinion, was becoming ridiculous, considering the fact that the suspect was left alone for over four years.  He either had help from some outside source to cover his tracks, or had kept himself isolated for so long, that the organization couldn’t pinpoint his exact location.  Still, the boss he worked for had no sign of involvement in concealing him, so implicating him for sheltering the criminal was out of the question.

She turned her watch back on, waving at the screen that appeared before her until she reached the rogue agent’s picture and information.  Still, with the way he appeared to be, she wondered why he piqued the interest of the organization, given that he seemed to be normalized over the course of four years since that incident.  Regardless, she still had to keep her guard up when meeting him for the first time due to the fact that he was known as a sword master by the survivors of that incident.

This reminded her that she needed to message her partner the information and do a few activities before going back to sleep.  She tapped on the holographic screen with her middle finger, presenting options for her to choose from.  Touching the copy function materialized a small box for her to grab, which she did so and pushed it onto her phone.  The dropbox app on her phone emulated a notification sound, focusing her attention to the phone.  Taking out her partner’s phone number in her pockets, she made a new message, apologizing for forgetting to send the files to him today.  Additionally, she told him that she wanted to head off to the store to buy her provisions to last a week in a bit, so hopefully, he was around to help her with it.

After attaching and sending the message to her translator, she went back to examining the rogue agent’s information that was presented in front of her one last time.  Then, she smirked, turning off the screen as she stood up from her bed.

“Well, we’ve got you cornered now, Eiji Kuroda,” she whispered, turning off the screen.  “What’s your next move, Kensei of Tokyo?”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rogue Agent Eiji Kuroda, informally known as the 'Kensei of Tokyo' had both retrained and improved his martial arts for the last four years for this day. The day to confront the one responsible for taking everything he cherished away the last eight years. Having the help of Tsuken Yasashi in reforming his own martial art and his fortune showing him the signs to prepare for death, he sets off to defeat Rumia once and for all. However, his past actions catch up to him, which proves to be a huge obstacle for him to continuing through what needs to be done...

_“Are you sure about this, Yukari-sama?”_

“Yes, I’m sure of it.”

_“But why are you giving me the remaining of Eiji’s training to become a true samurai?”_

“Because he needs to be prepared for what is to come upon entering the land of Gensokyo.”

_“I don’t know if I could live up to your expectations… You know what I did to that village many years ago, right?”_

“Which is why you’re the right person to train him properly; you’re the finest warfare strategist that I had at the time, who witnessed these foreign invaders up close and personal.  After all, you two seem to have some connection with one another.”

_“Huh? What do you mean by that?”_

“You’ll see when the time comes.”

One of her hand touched his head, while his transparent hands touched her’s, trying to hold onto her as much as he could.

_“Yukari-sama…”_

“It’s time, Tsuken… I have to go now… Take care of him.  For the sake of Gensokyo’s survival…”

_His hand went through her shoulder as she gapped herself under.  He clenched his right hand, shaking in disbelief that she left him with training the overworked man to become a warrior.  This mission she planned for was guaranteed to be suicidal, especially when so much has happened since he was alive at that place…_

Just then, the door to the bedroom opened up.  His attention was brought up to who could have entered, noticing that Eiji had returned from work with a package on his hands.  He placed it on the desk near the red lacquered spear.  He sat down on the chair and turned to the ghost, placing his elbows on his thighs while looking down, sighing.

“What’s wrong, Eiji,” Tsuken spoke, after letting him catch his thoughts together.

“Its work,” he responded.  “They laid me off until further notice...”

 

He had little time to prepare for the uncertain future.  In fact, the two had barely any time to develop a connection with one another.  Over the next few days, Eiji’s now ghost mentor utilized his free time in order to finish what Yukari began over a year ago: Training Eiji in the Way of the Samurai.  Though Eiji was as confused about knowing his master as understanding the lessons he was trying provide him, he understood that what lied ahead in his own future was imminent danger and needed to prepare for it as fast as he could.

The package Eiji had carried to his room contained a straight yari blade.  He attached the blade onto the ancient grip, securing it on the old guard, and tightened the parts together with screws that held it in place.  Although the blade was not the third component that completed the entire spear set, it was enough to make the spear a functional weapon.  All those years learning how to fix old objects from the simulation app on his ElPad now transferred to his watch from his job were finally paying off.  He smiled when he completed assembling the spear together in a few hours, feeling a sense of accomplishment upon repurposing the weapon.

With the help of Tsuken, Eiji discovered that his palm strikes were unusually powerful than his normal strikes, specifically his right hand strikes.  At first, he had no clue of why these particular strikes were strong, much more how to activate them.  His mentor explained that the answer was in his journal he wrote for so long.  Flipping through the pages of his writings, he found an entry about a Tai Chi master he had fought in a tournament years ago, who advised him to use those strikes more often.  He recalled the match that happened in the past, remembering that he threw a few of those particular strikes in the match, which seemed to have weakened her when they made contact.  He had no punching bag at the apartment, but his mentor projected enemies to deal with in order for him to test out the strikes as part of his Ninjutsu training.

For the next two days, they rigorously trained with one another: Eiji mainly focusing on weapon routines, while Tsuken being patient with his student learning through what lessons he provided to him in short time.  He knew that his student could not be a complete samurai yet due to the time constraint, so he focused on improving what he was good at.  Much to his surprise, Eiji had already relearned most of his fighting skills, even surpassing his master’s expectations throughout recent years.  Because he had been working on _Mushinryu Ninjutsu_ , his off-shoot fighting style that originated from Extreme Fighters on the Street VII, it had significantly cut the time-consuming methods in mixing every combat skill he had together.  Still, the two knew that there was no way to finalize a fighting style together, so they only covered how to combine his years of combat and development together at the moment, throwing in a few survival tips into the mix.

On the third day, his mentor told him to take a break.  In response, Eiji and Kyushichi went to participate in a lottery at the local convenient store near the apartment.  This was the young man’s first time going out gambling, to which his father helped him set up a lottery ticket, guiding him in how to place bets on numbers.  Having no clue in what order the numbers had to be, he set himself on a three set of individual numbers that seemed reasonable enough, purchasing the ticket shortly after doing so.  Unknown to him, he locked himself in exact numbers, locking his ticket on those that repeated the sequence four times.  At that night, the news had shown the winning lottery numbers in the exact order that had lined up with what he entered on his ticket, making him the winner of the National Pick-3 Lottery of Japan.

“We should celebrate this wondrous night, Eiji,” his father told him, nodding in amazement after hearing the news of his son’s ticket having the winning numbers by him.

Eiji stood up, walking into the hall of the apartment with a shocked face as he looked at the numbers that was printed on his ticket.  He couldn’t believe it, but winning the impossible lottery he just entered in was printed on this slip.

“Hey, where are you going, son!?”

Entering back in his room, he locked the door behind him and placed the ticket on the desk, sitting back down on his chair.  This had thrown him in a slight panic, both in fear and joy.  On the plus side, he had just won a little over 2.5 million YEN from a lottery ticket.  As he was about to place the ticket on his desk, he saw a red plate that had purple rice sushi on it.  Disparity upon this joyous moment about the lottery was shattered in a heartbeat at the sight of it.

 _It must be time,_ he dreadfully thought, looking at the purple sushi that was on the red plate.  _I must prepare to die._

Even if Eiji did not have his samurai armor at the moment, he still had the weapons he rebuilt and his martial arts uniform.  He also slept early to have a good night’s rest.  After suiting up in some casual clothes, he made his way to the store he bought the ticket at as early as he could, which the manager demanded him to be interviewed by the media of how he won the lottery.  He declined the offer, informing them that he was going to be too busy with important matters shortly after retrieval of the prize.  Tsuken was not present at the moment, nor did he leave any word to him since yesterday morning, which caused him to worry about his mentor’s wellbeing.  Storm clouds were rolling in throughout the day as he promptly rode the train to Kawagoe, Japan to discuss matters with Renko.

Making his way made his way to the Student Union, he held onto an envelope that contained his winnings from the lottery yesterday.

“Excuse me,” he asked the receptionist, who turned her head to him.  “Where can I find the dormitory that Usami Renko is staying at?”

“She should be staying at Room 713 at the building across the street from here to the west.”

“Thanks.”

He was in a haste to Renko’s dorm room, knowing that time was against him.  Once he arrived at the building, he took the elevator, advancing to the seventh floor, and paced through the halls to her door until he was now standing in front of her room.  His heart throbbed as he wanted to tell her that he suspected something at a shrine they visited long ago as well as having acquaintance with Maribel during his middle school years.  Wanting to confess them here and now, he began knocking at her door in hopes that she was already in there.

But nobody answered.  To him, this was strange due to the fact that by now, classes were done for most students, regardless of their degree track.  He tried once more, hoping that Renko was inside.  Given that the Sealing Club had broken up, how she acted during their entire trip, and from what his martial arts friend described her as, he suspected that she was not the type to be active around the entire campus with classmates or involved with the community.  He waited for her for some time, knocking one last time before making the decision to not wait any longer for her to leave the dormitory.  Because he was not a student and was a visitor, people must have suspected him as a stalker by now due to the fact that she did not answer the door, causing him to leave in silence to avoid arousing further suspicion.

She must have still been angry with him since that day, which he understood that one would not simply get over how another would act in a week.  Sighing, he continued back to the lobby and told the receptionist to give her the envelope he wanted to personally deliver to her once she was out of the dorms, to which she agreed to do so.  He walked out of the dormitory, not looking back as he advanced his way back to the train station to head back home.  After all, there was still the thought of confronting Rumia, to which he had to do so tonight…

 

Despite the fact that he was able to strap the sword behind his waist thanks to his dojo belt, there was no way he could secure the spear.  The armor he had back in his apartment had one that went around the armor, which could holster it in place.  Dressed in his martial arts uniform, he sighed, wishing that he had his armor with him.  Knowing that he could only carry a few items, he slipped the spear in the slender bag, and slung it around him, alongside his wooden sword.  He also strapped his watch around his left wrist and wore the leather gloves on his hands.  His mind was set, which he walked to the closed door of his room, drew in a deep breath, and exhaled.

 _Time to head back to my apartment alone, I guess,_ Eiji thought, shaking his head.  _I can’t believe that today is the day…_

He placed his hand on the knob and turned it.  However, it seemed to be stuck.  He gave it another turn and tried to pull and push the door.  It did not budge at all.  A sudden shock of anxiety rose up in his thoughts, causing him to aggressively knock on the door.

“Can anyone hear me?!” He yelled, hoping to get his parents to help him out.

“We hear you, son,” Alice replied from the other side of the door.

“Get me out of here, now.”

“No.”

Eiji slowly walked back, and then a wave of strings shot through the door.

“We won’t let you ruin your future in this path you’ve never disclosed to us anymore.  We’ll prevent you from passing through until everything is sorted out in our end.”

He didn’t respond to her as he was promptly tied by the white strings that had shot at him.  ‘…until everything was sorted out?’  Was there something he did not know happening beyond him?  He shook his head to clear his thoughts and caught a breath.  Acting rashly or out of emotions would only make things worse, not to mention that they must have caught on his intentions to get back to his own home.

Then again, he had just won one of the national lotteries of Japan, which must have drawn his parents to the money he won.  This must’ve made them believe that, in their point of view, that he should be using that money to finish his college degree to secure himself a better job for the future instead of living life like he was at the moment.  Now wrapped by her strings, he slowly rolled and squirmed to his bed, lifting his own back on it.

 _Guess I’m stuck here for a while_ , he thought to himself.

His phone had went missing earlier today, which he was sure that he had it all along when he went to the convenient store.  If only if he still had his phone, he would have call Renko earlier to arrange a meeting at his house tonight to do what he did earlier.  He had found an amazing discovery about her powers thanks to app the two ran last weekend in his watch and needed to share it with her before she faced danger once more.

He looked at the clock that ticked on the counter on his desk, which the long and short hands seemed to read somewhere near 6:15 PM.  Next, he stared at the patio that was beside him, which had several large windows and doors that blocked it.  He remembered that the hallway lead to this place as well.  Thoughts of jumping off this patio initially filled his mind, but he knew that the fall was too great of a risk, not to mention that he was in no condition to jump off due to his current predicament.

Eiji had prepared for this day to come.  The day to avenge the woman he loved so long ago.  The little girl, whom Renko gave him her name as ‘Rumia’ seemed to be waiting in anticipation for him to show up; or so at least he intuitively thought, while he began to place is back on the bed.  But now, he was stuck at the moment thanks to his parents, who have seemingly blocked his path at this very moment.  The best course of action was to wait for them to make their move before he does.

He began to lull into a sleep as his eyes became heavy as he sat below the bed in his seemingly newfound prison, hoping to pass time to his fate...

 _He remembered how warm and soft she was.  It was not Elza he thought about, but ‘Merry.’_   _Although Renko mentioned a person named after her multiple times, he knew a young woman with a similar sounding name, who often visited and told him to codify herself as ‘Yukari.’  Until he reviewed the footage once more after coming back from their trip, the thought about her appearance did not cross his mind at all.  From what Renko described to him about the woman she met weeks ago, she wore a purple dress and had an umbrella with her.  He wondered if this woman she had described to him was Yukari at along._

_The last time he met this woman was two years ago in his apartment.  At that time, she had asked for help in dealing with a life-threatening situation she was going thorugh.  It was about alter egos, to which this persona she had created herself was beginning to take over her entire wellbeing.  He had no idea what she was talking about, since he believed that her name was really ‘Yukari Yakumo’ since they first met and that she would come visit him every so often for company._

_“… So why can’t you just simply walk away from the problem?” Eiji asked her.  “It should be simple to just avoid the problem by not thinking about it, right?”_

_“I’ve had this feeling that I tried to do so countless times,” Yukari answered, shaking her head, looking down.  “No matter how much time I passed to avoid the problem, the thought of being trapped forever comes back with an even worse grim feeling, gnawing at my very soul…”_

_“I see…  Well now, it seems to be an inescapable predicament as you described it to be, hmm…”_

_He sighed, leaning back onto the kitchen counter, feeling stumped after hearing her situation out._

_“Have any ideas in dealing with this situation of mine?”_

_“There is.  Strive through it, not looking back.”_

_“…Huh, what do you mean?”_

_“There seems to be only one path that’s open in this situation, and that is to endure through it.  Even if the risk of no return is imminent, making the best of life-changing situations is the only option left, should there be no way out of it.  It’s the only idea I have in mind if I was in your position.”_

_She had given him a tight hug to his answer, shivering in fear._

_“I just… Don’t know if I have the courage to face it through like you make it out to be…”_

_He wrapped his arms around her, accepting her embrace around him.  Her arms began to tightly squeeze his body as the two shared a mutual embrace._

_“I-I’m sorry for not being much of help at this point.  It’s the only solution I have in mind.”_

_“You’re doing what you could, and for that, I thank you for supporting me these years…”_

_He stared at her purple eyes, feeling worried that this might be the last time they saw each other._

_“Promise me that you’ll come back alive and in one piece.”_

_“I… I will… But promise me as well that you will be Renko’s eyes, should I not return from this trip…”_

_He puzzlingly nodded, pulling her close as well._

_“Thank you, for being my support in both developing my abilities and paying off my debt, Eiji-kun…”_

_Her hands loosen and the two looked at one another._

_“Any time, Yukarin… anytime…”_

 

Remembering the last time he saw Yukari, Eiji felt anguish rising within his heart.  Tears had begun to form from his eyes as he began to empathize with Renko in her vain search efforts for Maribel.

 _I just wished I could have done more for her back then,_ he thought, beginning to turn his entire body around. “But, I just… I-I can’t-”

“-can’t forgive yourself about what happened,” an older woman’s voice asked him, pulling him close to her chest.

He opened his eyes, finding himself being smothered by this woman's bosom.  From what his limited visibility could picture, she wore a Chinese battle dress with a purple tabard.  She had laid down on him to the point that she was smothering him with her bosom as he lamented about his past.  He tried to wiggle himself free from her grasp, but her entire body locked him in place, causing him to mentally melt within her grasp.

“H-hey, let-,” he gasped, his face turning red.

“No,” she responded.  “It’s been a long time since I’ve hugged someone, specifically a Hakurei.”

“…what?”

Eiji had no clue who was hugging him, nor did he know what she was talking about.

“W-who are you?”

“Don’t you remember me, Eiji-kun?”

She loosened her grasp, allowing him to free himself.  He just realized that the strings that tied him had suddenly vanished.  He also saw that he was now lying on the bed.  His expression went from embarrassed to being surprised after having a good glimpse at her.

“I-impossible…  You look so much like her, though!”

He tried to crawl away from her, only to have his back hit the wall.  She crawled close to him, placing one of her hands close to his chin as she drew her face close to his.  A mixture of joy and fear had flared in his mind as he stared into her gaze.

“Show it to me.”

“Huh?”

“The mark on your right palm; show it to me.”

He obeyed her command, presenting his right palm to her while allowing her to examine it.  He wondered why the mark on his hand piqued her interest.  Gazing at her, he noticed that Yukari seemed to have aged both mentally and physically for some time since the two had last met.  She ran one of her left fingers on the palm of his hand, gazing at the glowing two kanjis that seemed to have imprinted itself on his hand.  A slight acidic-like sting had risen on her finger, causing her to pull it away from the engraving, rubbing her thumb on it to see if it was fine.

“It still hasn’t lost its touch over the years,” she stated.

“You… knew of it,” Eiji asked her, his eyes widened at the subject.

“Yes, the marking on your hand is why you drew an interest to me when we first met.”

“When we first met..?  Then you must be the one behind Elza’s death, right?”

He tried to strike her his right palm, but she caught his wrist with her left hand as the attack whiffed to her right, keeping a reasonable amount of grip strength on it.

“No, I wasn’t…  Look, we don’t have much time for idle chit-chat, so I’ll cut to the chase.”

Eiji’s arm went tense and although he had the initiative in striking her and an idea of how to pull his arm away from her, he saw Tsuken sitting on the chair near the desk.  Seeing his mentor reassure him that she was here on friendly terms, he loosened up.  Noticing that he was not going to do anything stupid like continue his assault, Yukari released her grip on his wrist.

“As you know from the media, there’s a youkai roaming freely in Tokyo, causing murders every other day in the city.  The matter would have been settled discreetly, until a dimensional boundary opened around the Boyu Shinkansen bullet train route in Aokigahara.  The I.Y.E.A., a division of mythical peacekeepers, believes that this was her doing.  However, I find the latter highly unlikely, given that she wandered into a gap by random chance.”

She drew back from him and sat on the bed, giving him space as she looked through the window.

“Tell me what happened at that night?”

Eiji turned himself to sit by her, letting his feet touch the floor.  Why she had appeared before him so suddenly was still in his mind, but given her tone, she seemed to be in a hurry.  He stared down at the ground and sighed, clearing his mind to answer her.

“On that day, Renko and I were returning from a trip in Kyoto after we packed and carried her belongings from an apartment she had been keeping up for years.  Before that night, we had found parts of a mystical spear, which claimed to be the Heavenly Jeweled Spear, which I assembled the gem on the socket located on its surface.  With the two parts combined, we were able to watch projections of two women opening a dimension within the train.  Despite the entire set was not in its complete form, she tried to open this gate at that day by swinging it at a kaleidoscopic picture of Mount Fuji.  I stopped her from going any further, believing that the gate could not have opened up due to not having all the parts together.”

Yukari’s eyes widened, looked back at her old friend at the mention of a name.

“Ren…ko?”

“Yes, her name is Renko.  Renko Usami.”

“I see…”

“To be honest, I don’t know how longer she is going to hold her sanity in check.  She’s been searching for someone named ‘Merry’ for a year or so and its taking a toll on her in finding her own way in life.”

“Huh…”

Yukari became lost in thought, slightly shook her head to remain composed.

 _So he was who that woman waited for at the apartment,_ she thought.  _And I thought she made friends with a shady stranger at first…_

“Did anything happen when you two first encountered?”

“We were being chased by Rumia at that time, which she almost died in the process.  That little girl must have been waiting at the apartment complex I live at to hunt me down by now.  Why did you ask?”

“Oh… Oh dear…”

“Is there something wrong?”

Yukari waved her hand aside her, then emulated an opening motion to open a gap.  Reaching both her hands in it, she pulled out a chest with the insignia of six coins on the center of the lid, lined up in two rows.  She stood up, placed it across the bed, and looked back at him.  Eiji recognized that chest as his own when he was not displaying it for maintenance.  He knew that her powers had grown so much over the time they were together, but to see her powers expand so much to the point that he couldn’t see the gap at all was astounding to him.

“We have to prepare you for battle, then.”

“Just what I had in mind…  Wait, what?”

“You heard me, get prepared.”

“S-sure…”

Eiji stood up from his bed and walked to his chest, opening it.  Tsuken floated down by him and stared at the armor.  Everything was neatly packed together, starting with the cloth armguards, then the metal shoulder and shin guards, and the leather chest armor.  He laid them to the side to see the black hakama and white kendogi were at the bottom, while the armor parts on the edge of the chest and stood up.

 _You never told me that you were a fan of the Sanada Clan,_ Tsuken commented him.

 _Yeah, well, Yukimura Sanada was one of my role models in becoming one._ Eiji mentally responded back, smiling as he began to slip into his samurai outfit.

_Heheh…  Maybe I’ll tell you more about him once things quiet down a bit._

_I’d like that._

While Eiji was arming himself up, Yukari gave him some space to dress up, took out his phone within her bosom and went through the contacts on his list.  She first texted to Renko, telling her to get out of Eiji’s Apartment and then scrolled down to examine his contact list.  He did not have a lot of people to talk to, making her options limited to only two that sounded like women names.  Choosing between calling between these contacts or to send a text message to them, she chose the latter, texting to them to rescue Renko from a little blonde girl in Lolita fashion.  She kept an eye out for the young man, making sure that he did not notice his cell phone being used by her.  Quickly opening a small gap to her right, she flicked the phone inside and closed it once it had entered in it.

With little difficulty, he had armed himself to the teeth.  Once Eiji secured a set of baseball shin guards onto his legs, he strapped on the leather cuirass around his body.  Fortunately, the side straps were similar to belt straps, which unlike his first armor set, enabled him to secure the armor onto his body with relative ease.  After securing the armor, he secured the shoulder guard, lacing it onto the chest sling to his right.  Lastly, he slipped on the black cloth armguards, testing his grip to make sure that he had enough flexibility around his hands.

On the bottom of the chest, he noticed that there was a metallic hachimaki with the same insignia as the one on the lid.  An engraving of six Mon coins lined up in two rows was marked on the center. He found this headband at the Hakurei Shrine back when he helped Renko in searching for her friend around the location.

 _Wait…  Hakurei Shrine?  Yukari commented about the insignia on my right hand being related to ‘Hakurei,’ right,_ Eiji questioningly thought.

 _I’ll explain later,_ Tsuken answered.  _Right now, just concentrate on defeating the one that was responsible for taking everything away from you._

He nodded in agreement, strapping the headband on his forehead.  His mentor had a thought of nostalgia as he saw his student wearing the modern samurai appearance of his student.  Eiji turned around, facing the tall blonde woman once more.

“There’s an object that I’m missing at the moment,” he told her.  “Think you could retrieve it for me?”

“It depends,” Yukari answered. “What is it?”

“It’s a mask that appears to be fragmented in the workshop area of my apartment with a line and a dot.  It should be hanging on the armor display.”

She opened up a gap.  This time, his tiny workshop room was at the other side of it.  She reached in it with her left hand; seeming flailed her arm in it until her hand touched something, grasping it to pull the mask from the gap.  It closed once she freed her arm from the opening.  She walked towards him, handing the mask to him.  He strapped the mask on the side of his head, facing at an angle.

“Is there something special about that mask?”

“Well, kind of.  This mask was what got me into being a samurai in the first place.  And now, here I am, using the armor to take revenge…  Kind of ironic, given that I am pitted in a situation that may mean my certain death…”

“I see…”

She stepped close and pulled him, giving him a hug.  Knowing that struggling was useless, Eiji decided to embrace her, allowing his heart to be filled by the feeling of affection once more.  The feeling of love once lost to him, he was glad that Yukari was doing throughout the years she had been missing.  She saw his journal on the desk and warmly smiled, wondering whether he had kept writing in it as interesting events must have happened since she went missing.

“This woman, Usami Renko,” She asked.  “Do you know where she would head to, given that she had gathered the clues to continue her search?”

“You… knew about the investigation we’ve been undertaking as well?”

“Ah, let’s just say I’ve been keeping watch on you two for quite a while.”

“… In any case, she would most likely be at the Hakurei Shrine around Kiyosato, Japan; or at least, heading there as we speak.”

She released him.  Walking to the glass door, she opened it wide and walked to the edge of the balcony.

“What are you doing,” he asked her, concerned that she had stood near the ledge.

“There was once a saying that I took heart from a young man many years ago; something about ‘the only path open is forward.’  Think you still have the courage to step up to the plate, despite the passing years?”

Eiji looked down on himself, regretfully frowning at she was referring to him.  He looked back at Yukari, who seemed to have disappeared from the edge.  He entered the balcony, taking both the sword and spear bags that were beside his bed, and looked down to see the entrance area of this apartment.  He took in a deep breath and exhaled, looking at the cloudy sky, smiling with relief at the fact that Yukari was still alive all this time.  Just as he was turning back to see his room one last time, the door from his room slammed open, revealing a woman in a ninja mask.  She had a grappling hook at the ready, which made him move close to the edge.

“E-Eiji-san, what are you doing over there,” the ninja exclaimed to him, dropping the hook down onto the carpet beneath her.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Given many pieces of the puzzle on her investigation on Maribel, Renko finalizes her search for her friend back in her living quarters, finding out that she was closer in solving where her friend could be at than she initially thought. Knowing that she needs as much help as she could, she insists her new member to join in with the investigation once more. However, danger lurks around every corner, especially when said new member had tried to visit her beforehand and had not arrived to save her against a familiar predator after the two...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As the end of elections come to a close, I fear that things might change for the better or worse for the world... Hopefully, the US doesn't go to war against the wrong people, whoever wins POTUS on the 8th of November...

University life should have normalized by now, had she wanted to give up on Sealing Club Activities for good.

Renko had tried to focus more effort on her studies, especially in a recent group project in String Theory, which her classmates were in need of assistance in their respective activities.  However, she found out later that a number of her group members had slacked off; costing the group two letter grades on their entire performance when it came time to present the project on the class.  She also couldn’t put the thought of finding Maribel away ever since Eiji went with her to Kyoto, which the clues he left behind for her to sort out continually pestered her mind, evolving into vague nightmares.  Though she tried everything she could to suppress the thought in her head, she couldn’t help but cross a feeling that the projections she saw may be a memory she lost at some time; as if her being was trying to remember something that happened long ago, but couldn’t recall exactly what it was…

She shook her head, focusing her attention back to the lesson that was being shown by the instructor in String Theory class.  In front of her hovered a holographic diagram of a small orb, filled with strings that were attached within it.  Below the diagram was a small device that was sustaining its projection, attached to the desk she was sitting on.  Given that the book she wrote her class notes in was opened in front of her, the entire class was taking notes on the subject matter of this orb that was projecting in front of them.

“…One possibility would be that the visible Universe is in fact a very large D-brane extending over three spatial dimensions,” the instructor lectured to the class, pointing at various illustrations to the diagram that pointed out the subject of possible universes on the virtual screen displayed at the center of the classroom.  This, in turn, made the orbs in front of the students zoom into what the instructor was talking about.  “This scenario, called a brane cosmology, involves material objects made of open strings, which are bound to the D-brane and cannot move "at right angles to reality" to explore the Universe outside the brane.”

Despite the fact that she had been in this class for a while, this was a new subject for her to study, which she continued to record notes about it.  Although she wanted to go back to her dorm room to continue examining her work, right now, all she could do is bear the burden of her studies here and now.  As the clock went by, the notes began to fill as she continued to write was writing about the subject of D-Branes.  The bell rang out after minutes passed, signaling the end of class.  Nearly the entire class got up from their seats and began to make their way to the exit.  A few students, including Renko, continued to finish the rest of the notes, while the instructor finished reminding the students about their homework assigned to them that was due by Monday.

Finally finishing her notes, she got up from her seat, packing up her books in her bag, and made her way out of the classroom.  This class, fortunately, was her last subject for the day.  Additionally, it was a Friday, which meant that she had plenty of time to add and study the web of strings she had unveiled in her dormitory.  She entered through the halls, marching through the crowd of students that littered the halls of the university.

Once she had arrived in front of her dorm room, she unlocked it, opening the door.  Nobody was inside and the strings were still intact. Jun told her that as long as she cleaned it up in two days; before the tenants went through their weekly inspection of each resident’s living quarters, then he did not mind her having the web hung around the room.  Entering inside, she turned on the lights and closed the door behind her, taking out her journal and placed it on her desk, while laying her school bag on her bed.  Ever since she emptied her apartment in Kyoto and pushed the investigation as far as it could go with Eiji, she mapped out the information he had given her about the whereabouts of Maribel onto this web of strings she had made ever since she began conducting her search efforts.

A myriad of strings shot from the mirror onto the each side of the room, which the reflective object was centered in the web. Notes she had made ranging from the false _Heavenly Jeweled Spear_ the two reviewed on the Hiroshige Boyu Shinkansen days ago, to the jewel that was part of the set, they were strung on various colors of strings.  It was as if a spider had created a home for itself.  Renko had a feeling that she was close to finding Maribel’s whereabouts and she could have not done so without the newest member of the Sealing Club.  Just a day ago, she just remembered that the jewel she now possesses had some sort of relation to the spear part Eiji now had, which she recently tied one of the ends of the strings that pierced through the spear onto a white string that had another string that portrayed the comma-shaped jewel near the spear’s knot.  She went up to the two strings she had tied up yesterday, examining the two.  These two strings, tied along a white string, lead to the mirror in the center, which had almost every string connected to it to prop it up.

According to the news days ago, the Boyu Shinkansen was closed off for maintenance due to sudden obstructions on the train’s path.  This was strange due to the fact that this report was made the day after her and Eiji falsely disbanded the club.  Something must have happened outside the train when she had swung the incomplete spear when the two were passing by the forest, but what exactly happened was the question.  Looking at the tied strings, she pondered on this for a while and looked back at their other ends of them.  On the red string, it was tied onto a white one, which represented her recent trip to Kyoto.  On the green one, it was tied onto a blue one, representing her trip to Sado Island a few months ago.  The white string represented Kyoto, which crisscrossed between white and yellow, representing her realization that Maribel was missing more than two year ago.

Then, she thought about when these events had happened.  Eiji stated that he found the spear component nearly two years ago, to which he had maintained it ever since, while she had found the comma-shaped jewel a few months back.  Everything must have begun at Kyoto, given that he found the part there, while she and Maribel were assembling that spear via holographic projections presented to her.  The events of the Sealing Club’s last adventure; when Maribel was still present must have happened before he found the second part of the spear.  As she continued to sequence the events in order, a sudden sharp pain began to form within her mind while she pondered on these events, forcing her to sit down on the bed.

“Ow,” she told herself, taking in deep breaths to calm her mind down.  “…I think I’m starting to see a pattern.”

And a pattern, she indeed saw.  The strings between Kyoto, Sado, Tokyo, and the items formed a skewed triangle, if placed in chronological order.  To confirm her discovery, she took out her phone to use the geographical map app, forming a holographic projection of her current location in Kawagoe above her phone.  She expanded this map to where she saw a large portion of Japan centered at her location in front of her.  Holding her pointer finger on the map, she slid her finger to the island of Sado then to Kyoto, and back to her current location, drawing a straight line back to the island.  Color-coding the lines, she then thought about the items the two had found, which she drew small lines that slightly protruded from their corners inside the triangle.

However, finding the intersection where the three lines within the triangle would intersect proved to be a puzzling matter.  She knew that these three lines had to meet at some point, but where exactly?  If she mistaken where they would crossover and traveled to that destination only to find nothing at the pinpointed location, then the information she had gathered up to now would have been for naught.  Linking the three colored lines onto her right index finger, she closed her eyes, pointing inside the hovering map above her phone screen.  She entered in a trance-like state, which her finger began wandering within the shape.

 

_The Brown-haired woman with the mushroom hat looked down onto her seat, while a young man in a brown boiler suit was in the driver’s seat, focusing on the road ahead.  Upon hitchhiking, she told him earlier that she was heading to a place somewhere in central Japan, giving him directions to the destination.  Although she prepared herself for the trip, she did not expect the walk to be longer than usual, forcing her to attempt to catch a ride from a driver to quicken the pace.  However, not a lot of people drove around the countryside, specifically when many who were driving back home from a hard day’s work during the weekend at the city.  Even if there were any drivers around, many would avoid hitchhikers since it would most likely eat their own free time picking one up.  It was not until about two hours in attempting to hitchhike was when this man, who drove a mini truck that belonged to a salvaging company was willing to help bring her to where she was heading, despite the fact that he was heading back home to Tokyo to turn in for the day._

_The two remained quiet to each other, with only the sound of the vehicle moving on the road emulating between one another.  A map was uploaded on the man’s phone, showing the way to their destination._

_“What do you plan to do when you get there,” the man asked Renko._

_Renko looked at him, sitting back up.  “Huh,” she answered._

_“The place we’re stopping at is on a highway…  Are you sure you don’t plan on doing something you would regret?”_

_Renko looked at the projected map above her cell phone, pulling it in her hands and expanded it to see the destination.  They were marginally at a distance from their intended destination, which she confirmed what he was talking about.  Trailing her finger down the base of a mountain the pointer hovered above, her eyes widened._

_“Oh, that place,” Renko exclaimed, moving her finger down to a trail that ran by the highway they were currently on. “We’re actually heading near a shrine that’s located on a slope of the mountain.  I know this car would not be able to climb the stairs of the shrine, nor would it be able to reach the location.”_

_“So I would be dropping you off at where the path meets this highway, right?  You sure you don’t need a ride back?”_

_“Yup.  I’ll be walking back home, so you don’t have to worry about me.”_

_The man wryly smiled as he heard her say that, focusing back on the road that the two were traveling on.  She pushed the projection back above the phone, placing her elbow near the window as she rested her head on her hand.  She looked at the radio system of the car, seeing the timer tick up a minute, then at his name tag that was strung onto a plastic string, tied onto the rear view mirror.  From what she read on the nametag, this Eiji Kuroda worked for the Takeda Salvagers, a company known for salvaging in Tokyo, Japan, which made her curious of why he was all the way out here with one of their work trucks to begin with._

_“What brings you out here in the middle of nowhere,” Renko asked him._

_“I’m returning from a yearly business trip in Nagano from one of our branches,” Eiji answered.  “We’ve been pouring our staff to other branches as of late due to buildings in need of demolishing and clearing by the government.”_

_“I’ve heard of that happening around the city.  They’re rebuilding them into office buildings, correct?”_

_“That’s right.”_

_The trip continued on until the counter above the projection went from eighteen minutes to zero.  They had arrived at their destination, which appeared that they had arrived at a desolate highway in the middle of nowhere._

_“You sure this is the right place,” Eiji asked her._

_“Mhmm,” Renko answered, opening the door to her right.  “See, there’s a set of stairs ahead of me.”_

_Eiji saw the set of worn stone staircases that was on the base of the mountain as she unbuckled her seatbelt and exited the car.  He leaned back as she closed the door, to which he rolled down the passenger car window with a push of a button to look at her._

_“Hey, Usami-san, if you’re planning on walking home, do drop by Takanecho Kiyosato, Japan just up ahead, if the sun expires,” Eiji told her.  “And be careful out there, all right?”_

_“I will, Kuroda-san,” she responded.  “And thank you for bringing me here…”_

_She jumped over the railing of the highway and landed on the sloped hill, making her way to the set of stone staircases.  He closed the window and drove his way to the town he mentioned earlier, planning on turning back to return to Tokyo, Japan._

Takanecho Kiyosato, Japan?  She heard part of that city’s name from the trip she took last weekend with Eiji.  Quickly figuring out that he must have forgotten the rest of that city’s name last weekend, she opened her eyes, seeing her finger pointing on the corner of Nagano Province, where the exact mountain range she went to over a year and a half ago was highlighted.  She expanded the map so she could get a closer look at where she had located the landmark.  It was spotted on a slope of the mountain, with a highway running near it.  To the southeast was the town mentioned in her memory.  On the point was a building that looked like a shrine, to which time had not been so well to its structure.

Although the phase of the day had turned into night at the time, she did not go to the town he mentioned to rest and recover.  According to what he told her in his perspective of the events, he returned back to her after wandering what was wrong with her, to which the thought about her wellbeing overtook his judgement.  When he had arrived at the location, she told him for the first time that she was looking for Maribel, to which he offered his time to help her look for her around the place.  In the end, they had found nothing of interest in that place, which she once again hitched a ride back to Kawagoe, Japan from him.

But why did her finger set the pointer at the place she once searched before?  There had to be a reason why her memories had brought her here again.  She slumped onto her bed, becoming a bit flustered at her confusion at the matter as the three lines intersected at the point.  Looking at the strings hung across the room, she focused her sight on the section where the jewel and the spear were hanging.  As she focused her attention to those two objects, a thought crossed her mind.

_Does this mean that there is a membrane hidden within the Hakurei Shrine grounds?_

The clues she had gathered these two years began to make sense with each other.  The green jewel that she found at the island of Sado and the assembling of the spear from long ago must have been some kind of key to something, while the location now found by her was most likely where this key would be used at.  Though she would have used it on the Boyu Shinkansen once more, it was closed down for the rest of the week due to maintenance.  She got up, circled the location with her finger, saved the coordinates of the location and illustration of the map as it was, and closed the app.  Just as she was about to pocket her phone, it vibrated on her left hand.  Taking a look at it, a text message sent by Eiji had arrived on her phone.

 _I wonder how he’s been doing as of late,_ Renko worryingly thought, tapping on the screen of her phone to see what the message was.  _After all, I haven- oh!?_

Looking at the time displayed at the top right corner of the screen, she realized that it was 5:30 PM; two hours since she attempted to pinpoint the location of the Hakurei Shrine in Japan.  She gave a light chuckle at how her powers had a habit in consuming time.  Focusing at the matter, she switched her gaze back to the message now taking over the screen.

**Meet me at my apartment in Arakawa, Tokyo at 7:00 PM.  I’m about to be done with work and have matters to discuss with you.**

She became ecstatic.  This meeting that he proposed must have involved in the investigation, given that Tsuken told her that he was withholding information from her.  Grabbing her purse, journal, and hat, she prepared herself to depart from the dormitory to meet him at his own apartment.  She knelt down and pulled out the small box that contained the blue gun.

“I’d best take this with me,” she quietly told herself, opening the box.  “After all, I need to know more about how to use its magical properties, which Eiji forgot to explain how to use its function.”

After pocketing the gun within her purse, she checked the time once more, knowing that she had enough time for her to reach the station before the train to Tokyo began loading passengers.  Not wanting him to wait like before, she closed the box, shelved it under her bed, wore her socks and shoes, exited her room, and locked the door behind her, making her way out of the dormitory to rendezvous with him at his place.  She wanted answers now.  Given that this text message was sent by him, she was confident that he was now ready to give them out to her.

 

Attached on the text message was the exact address of his apartment, which she made sure to follow along the given directions displayed on her map once she arrived at the residential area of Higashinippori in Arakawa, Japan.  Storm clouds were rolling in the sky, which began to give her a spinal chill.  After a few minutes of following the given directions, she had finally arrived at the apartment his place was located.  It was a four-story apartment, which made sense that he would live in such a small place, given that he told her weeks ago that he had a small budget to live with.

Renko quickly ascended the stairs, making her way to his apartment number.  She knocked three times and waited for him to open the door.  Nothing happened, to which she knocked on the door once more.  Once again, there was no response.  She was told that Eiji had visited her earlier by the receptionist of the dormitory she stayed in, which concerned her about him after hearing that he was in a hurry when trying to visit her at his own accord.  At that time, she was still in a trance finding out where her clues would lead her in the investigation and she felt guilty not answering the door when she should have.

 _By now, he should have answered the door some time ago_ , she thought, looking at the cloudy sky.  _Much more, **I** should have answered the door when he came to visit me earlier!_   It was nearly twenty minutes past seven already and a sense of guilt crept in her mind.  She looked at the door once more, noticing a circled mistletoe sigil appearing before her.  Her eyes began to widened, which she slowly unzipped her purse that hung on her right side.

_I have a bad feeling about this…_

Just then, her holo-phone began to vibrate within her left pocket.  Carefully taking it out with her left hand, she switched it on, checking who texted her, while grasping a hold on a cylindrical object within the purse.  The message once more came from Eiji.  Tapping on the screen to display the message, it read:

**Get out of there, right now!**

“So nano-”

Renko turned around, taking out a small cylindrical object with her right hand, capping it off, and quickly realigned it to point it away from her face, pressing down at the button on top of the small canister.  It unleashed a watery vapor from the tip, which made contact with a black ball that floated in mid-air.  Upon contact with the object, a small girl’s voice began to cough from within, causing it to fly away from her.  Renko flinched back for a second, astonished that the little girl from that one night had shown up.  Not taking any chances, she kept her pepper spray at the ready, strafing to her right as she dashed to the stairs to head back to ground floor to flee.

Rumia coughed and sneezed, closing her eyes as a response of getting hit by the vapors.  She was forced to break her flight, descending to ground level.

“Not ag- *cough*,” she yelled, touching her face to try to rub the spray off of her.

Trying to rub the inflamed areas only made the pain worse as the little girl rubbed the liquid through her face, spreading it.  Walking did not help much either, for the light breeze of the night caused the areas affected by the spray to burn, making her grit her sharpened teeth.  This was the second time that she was sprayed by a similar object, though last time was more volatile.  Kneeling down and maintaining her breath, the pain went away thanks in part of her orb that healed her, to which she ascended once more to check the seal on the door.

Rumia landed near it, kneeling down as she began to try to track her prey down.  Because she was hit by a chemical compound that seemed to affect her sense of smell, she could not use scent as a contributing factor, making the hunt slightly harder.  Still, she assumed that her prey did not go out far, but what could she do?  Suddenly, an idea popped in her head, which she opened one of her hands, forming a floating pitch-black orb.  Using both her hands, she widened the space between the ball and her hands, expanding the size of it, which began to engulf the surrounding area around her.

 

Renko ran as far as she could while avoiding eye contact with Eiji’s apartment.  She stopped to catch her breath in an alleyway after a while.  She could feel an ominous presence creeping up from behind her, which she turned her head to see what it was.  A pitch-black wall was closing in on her, making her spur into a sprint once more.  The wall seemed to engulf everything in its wake, while she made a vain attempt to try to flee from it.  Eventually, the alleyway came to an intersection that had no path forward, forcing her to turn either left or right.  She chose to go to her left.  Regardless of where she would have turned to, the wall engulfed her.

Everything was pitch-black in her sight as the wall passed her.  She stopped, letting her eyes adjust to the new environment while hoping that this wall did not harm her at all.  In terms of what was around her, nothing had essentially changed.  However, she couldn’t see the stars, or the moon in the sky due to the barrier that continued to expand above her.  This must have been the works of that little girl she had immobilized earlier.  She continued on her way in a cautious pace, avoiding collision with what was ahead of her.

Fear for Eiji’s life began to emerge within her heart, to which anxiety crept within her thoughts.  Something about the text messages sent to her was off today, as if someone was trying to make her walk into a trap to kill her.  There was no way Eiji was devious to her, since he seemed to be a good man to be around with.  If there was anything that was downright suspicious to Renko, someone must have hacked his communications in order to cause trouble between the two.

After a while of cautiously trending through the darkened alleyway and not colliding with the surrounding objects ahead of her, she saw the end of the barrier just up ahead.  It must have lead onto one of the main roads of this area, which she began to sprint towards.  However, she was stopped by the small girl that she had immobilized several minutes ago in front of her.  Rumia hovered down to face her prey in the alley, her face all reddened where the spray had made contact, while Renko stopped and began to calmly assess the situation.

“You’re more annoying than I initially thought at first,” Rumia told Renko, floating down to ground level.  “But I’m anxious now that this hunt has taken a turn for interest…  Tell me, are you affiliated with an organization that hunts youkai in these parts?”

“W-what do you mean,” Renko answered, confused about this organization she spoke of.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ah, well, that’s a relief…  If you were, then I would have not held back when we first met.  But now, you made it personal.” She stuck out her tongue and licked her sharpened teeth. 

“ _Itadakimasu_ ~!”

She hovered higher in the air and flew towards her in full speed, her face changing morphing into a grey face with blackened eyes and a sharpened smile.  Renko’s heartbeat raced, making everything seemed to move in slow motion in her sight.  There was one way to get through this, but it was risky and she hoped that this little girl did not predict her movements correctly.  She slightly dashed forward with her left foot in front, landing it as the little girl approached her.  Then, she jumped to the right, shuffling past the little girl as she was close.  Though the girl flew like a bullet towards her, she didn’t notice that her prey had changed directions, causing her to fly past her left.  An opportunity to break free from this darkened world had opened itself, allowing Renko to run for the exit.

For the first time, her legs felt like the wind, seemingly carrying her to the barrier’s end as she made a mad dash to it.  Rumia, who almost crashed onto an electrical pole, quickly flipped forward and landed on the pole with her feet planted on it.  Using it as a spring, she flew back towards Renko, who was now nearly approaching the exit.

“You won’t get away from me,” Renko exclaimed, her mouth beginning to water at the thought of how her prey tasted like.

Crossing her arms in front of her face, Renko went through the thinly-covered barrier, arriving at what she predicted: a street filled with cars and vans.  What she did not expect, however, was the fact that rain began dropping from the sky.  She almost collided with the railing on the side of the road, forcing her to commit a vault over it.   Rumia was almost out of her own barrier she had created, noticing that her prey was trying to jump over a railing.  She took this opportunity to try to grab her, extending her hands in front of her when she popped out of her own barrier.  As Renko jumped over the fence and was about to make a mad dash to the other side of the street, a familiar blue van was driving quickly towards her, forcing her to back away to the railing and fall down on her butt in order to avoid it.  She looked above her, seeing that the small girl had emerged from the darkened barrier, which she scooted to the side to avoid her.

Avoiding Rumia was successful, to a degree.  The small girl tried to grab the Sealing Club President’s neck with her right hand, but missed and instead, landed a small scratch on her left cheek with her pinky.  She did not notice that a car was quickly approaching behind her.  The sound of the blue van’s horn emulated, making her notice it at the last second.  The car’s rim collided onto her back, launching her out of her flight status as she was uncontrollably knocked forward.  She landed onto the concrete road and rolled sideways on the ground, laid gravely wounded on the ground.  The van finally came to a halt, to which a man in a military outfit got out of the car and looked at the front bumper of his car.

“Don’t approach her, Jun,” Renko told the man, recognizing that it was him.  “Believe it or not, she tried to chase and kill me.”

“…What,” he responded back, looking back at the now wounded Renko.

He just noticed that the black barrier behind Renko shrank itself, which was the cause of his current worries as he made his way to Eiji’s apartment.  His friend sent him a text message about twenty minutes ago, telling him to rescue Renko from a blonde girl in loli fashion.  Saving his roommate was one thing, but a girl in loli fashion being a threat made him believe that his friend was crazy at this point.  Shaking his head to regather his thoughts, he approached Renko and gave her a hand.

“We need to get out of this area ASAP.  At this very moment, we are in grave danger!”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eiji is cornered by an organization that he seemed to have committed crimes in, which he has no recollection in joining their ranks whatsovever. He attempts to escape from them in the wildest of fashions, while Renko and Jun deals with the pursuing Rumia, who is now hell-bent on killing the two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> w000000t! Teump-sempai won!! That means there's a high chance that I can stop worrying about WWIII and a nuclear strike going off for quite a while. Now that all this election fiasco is over, I can now go back to my regular uploading schedule!

Eiji flinched, spotting a ninja at the other side of the room he formerly stood in.  He recognized the ninja’s voice, who was no other than his co-worker in the Takeda Salvagers.

“Mizunami-san,” he asked.  “What are you doing here?

“I should ask you the same thing,” she answered, removing her ninja mask.  “I never expected the target they wanted me to detain was one of the hardest workers in the industry I worked in…”

“Who’s ‘they?’  You mean the I.Y.E.A.?”

“Ah, uh huh…  Apparently, you’re listed as a Rogue Agent.”

Rogue Agent?  Just what was she babbling about?  He held his laughter in, exhaling a sigh instead to prevent the situation turning for the worse.

“Just what did I do wrong this time,” he questioned her, playing along with whatever she was talking about.

Mizunami walked sideways; keeping an eye on Eiji to be sure he did not try anything funny.

“Well, how should I begin?  Four years ago, there was an incident in the island of Kyushu involving one of our training facilities.  The superiors briefed me that this agent attacked our trainees when he was supposed to be coroneted into our ranks at the time.  Then, he went into hiding until his reappearance months ago, buying materials from the USA branch of our organization to make weapons.  I presume what’s in that bag you’re carrying contains the weapons that were created from our property?”

Eiji gripped the bagged weapons with one of his hands as he backed to the edge.

“I’ll take that as a yes.  Give them to me, now!”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I need them to fulfill a goal of mine.  I will not hand them down to anyone until then.”

“Eiji-san, we could help you in detaining who was responsible for killing Agent Elza Shannon.  We just need your cooperation in this mix-up you’ve got yourself in!”

“I will not be detained now.  Not after what they’ve done to me at that time, nor when I’m so close to facing her.  They branded me as a Rogue Agent and sent nobody other than someone I knew in life to detain me, right?  Then I know that torture will follow after for me if I comply.”

She rolled the rope up until there was enough to spin it around above her.

“…Don’t let this situation become deeper than it is right now.”

Eiji shifted to the edge of the balcony, placing his hands on it.  As he lifted himself onto it, she threw the hook towards his left.  He closed his eyes, bracing for the rope to hit him.

_Cachink!_

The hook Mizunami threw came as expected, but it hit him on the chest thanks in part of its flight pattern interrupted by a flying holo-phone.  She wanted to wrap him up and pull him back towards her, but unexpectedly, this object seemingly came out of nowhere near him, altering the direction of the hook at the last moments of fight to his chest.  There was nothing she could do as the blunt tip of the hook made contact with his chest, knocking him off the balcony.

Once the hook fell down at his former location, she pulled the rope back, quickly making her way to it.  Judging from the way he fell, there was no way he could have hung on the edge.  Her assessment was quickly confirmed, seeing that there was no sign of him on the edge, nor on ground level.

She continued wrapping the rope, still looking over the edge of the balcony.  Nobody could have survived a fall that large, so there should have been a dead body on ground level, specifically her co-worker’s remains from the fall.  Considering that there was nothing present at the entrance, something seemed to be amiss.  Finishing up on wrapping and holstering the grappling hook to her side, she took out her phone and made a call to one of her associates involved in this matter.

“Hello,” a french female’s voice projected up to Mizunami’s ear as she held the phone near her.

“Hi,” she responded.  “There seems to be a problem in our original plans.”

“… How so?”

“The target fell down the balcony.”

There was silence between the two.

“Oh dear…”

“Yeah, I know…”

“Is his dead body lying on the ground?”

“Well, that’s the weird part.  The target must have disappeared shortly after his fall.”

“I see…”

“Have any idea of what happened?”

“I do, but it may be vague to state it without my partner by my side.  For now, check the room he was staying in.  There must be some evidence to this matter that might have driven him to desperation.”

“Understood; Where should we meet, then?”

“The place he used as his living quarters before transferring to his parents’.”

Mizunami walked up to Eiji’s phone, now lying broken on the floor of the balcony.  She bent down and picked it up.

“…See you then.”

Charlotte pressed a red phone button on the screen, sighing.  Jun ran off somewhere and had not returned for twenty minutes.  They were scoping the festival that was happening around the Meiji shrine, to which he had a text message sent to him while the two were making purchases left and right.  Prior to arriving here, the two had rented out a Japanese kimono and yukata to fit in with the festivities that was happening around them, to which she ended up going on a shopping spree around the place.

_Well now, this night just keeps getting stranger by the minute,_ she thought, looking at her phone, holding her umbrella with her right hand to stave off the rain.  _Perhaps I should call up my partner to see what’s going on._

Flipping through her contacts, she pressed on Jun’s name, then at the large call button displayed at the bottom of the screen.  She held the phone up to her ear, hoping to get his attention.  A few seconds passed, but instead, a message stating to call back later had appeared.  She tried again, but once more, no answer from the other side.

_Something tells me that he must be in trouble, given that he’s not answering.  Perhaps I’ll check on his car._

She took out a hakkero she bought today from her purse, looking at the small mirror frame positioned at the center of the object.  With her abilities tied to mirror manipulation, she could see what was going on in other reflective objects she had attached her powers to.  In this case, it was Jun’s car mirrors.  Seeing through both mirrors, Charlotte saw a brunette-haired individual with a mushroom hat with him through the driver’s interior mirror.

 

“Jun-san,” Renko asked the army-cladded young man, who was driving the car.  “What do you mean we need to flee as far as we could?”

Inside his van, the two had driven away from the scene of the little girl, who he crashed into earlier.  He was silent, hoping that the little girl was fine, considering the fact that he saw blood on the front hood of his vehicle when he stopped to examine the damage of the crash.  He hoped that the rain was enough to wash it off because they were approaching a highway soon enough.  Renko saw within the car that he had taken off a Yukata, which was now hung on the rear end of the van.  Focusing on driving on the highway, he continued his way on it, heading out of the city.

“Jun, answer me, please!”

“O-oh umm, I’m fine, thanks?”

“That’s not what I’m asking!”

Renko became exasperated at him for not answering her earlier and correctly.  Although she had patched herself up just now and was grateful that his van had a first-aid kit at the ready, she was shocked and scared at what she had to deal with several minutes ago.  The two were now on the run and although they had just escaped, she knew that the little girl he had just rammed with his vehicle would recover soon to continue the chase.

Jun continued to focus on driving the vehicle, heading out of Tokyo.  He took in a deep breath and exhaled, looking at Renko for a few moments.  He knew that she was worried about what just happened, but the sense of urgency they were in took priority to care about than leaving her out of the truth to keep her wellbeing safe from further harm.  Additionally, Eiji must have done a great deal to reveal what he knew about the truth to her, so he expected her to have some sense in dealing with her own situation.  He was still surprised that his friend did not reveal to her that he was formerly part of the organization at some time, to which this organization he currently worked for kept tabs on her every once in a while.

“Look, I’m sorry for what’s happening to us right now,” he began, turning the steering wheel to make a slight turn in the highway per directed by the road.  “She must have been chasing you for so long before I arrived to the rescue.  In fact, I got lucky finding you in time.”

“That sounds just about right,” Renko replied, chuckling in relief that he seemed to be fine.  “Who sent you to rescue me from the little girl that was chasing us?  I mean, you couldn’t have just arrived to my rescue by luck at all, given that you were at work at the time.”

“Well, Eiji texted about her on my phone, to which he requested me to do so.”

“Did he now?  Do you still have the message?”

“Yup, you may check my phone if you want to see it.”

“I’d like to.”

Jun took out his phone and unlocked it, having little time to swipe it to his messages in order to refocus on the road.  She took the phone from his hands after he held it to her for her perusal.  She didn’t want to tell him about his communications being potentially hacked, to which the thought was quickly confirmed when she saw his message to him.  It seemed to have coordinate numbers that consistently changed.  Not wanting to inform her friend about it, she swiped the phone back to the menu screen.

“According to the message, you were waiting at his apartment, right?  What were you doing there?”

Renko gazed back on the road, giving his phone back to him.

“He was moving back to his place today and wanted me to meet there so we could discuss our search for Merry together once he arrived.  I never expected that the little girl that was chasing me was waiting for us near his residence.”

“Huh…”

Jun gathered his thoughts together and then shown a disappointed look on his face.  He wished Eiji did not keep this situation he was in under wraps.  The situation would have not escalated to how it was now, had he told him the truth after rescuing Renko four weeks ago.  With the recent, unexpected events unraveling themselves to the agency now, chaos seemed to be looming around the corner in the surrounding area of the Aokigahara Forest.

“Jun-san,” she asked, still looking at the text message.  “Where are we going?”

“Huh? What?”

He just realized that they were essentially driving nowhere, aside from the fact that they were currently on the Kan-etsu Expressway.

“Oh umm, I just wanted us to get away from harm’s way.”

“Well, whatever the case is, it seems that we’ve gone far enou-”

_Boom!_

_Screech!_

Immediately hearing the sudden explosion behind their vehicle, Jun stepped on the brakes and turned the steering wheel to the left, causing a whiplash to the two as the vehicle slightly spun around.  Fortunately enough, the two had seatbelts on, which managed to hold them onto their seats.  Additionally, there were no cars present at the moment thanks in part of the festivities going on this week at Shibuya.  As the vehicle came to a halt, the two saw in front of them a crater on the road.  Renko’s eyes slightly widened, while Jun pressed a button on the steering wheel, to which the radio system of the van changed into a computerized touch screen.

“Computer, alert mode,” Jun announced out loud, to which the steering wheel had packed itself away from him.  At the same time, the seat began to pull him away from the driver seat, replacing Renko in the front.  While doing so, Jun pressed a button on the computer, bringing up a map that now faced her.

“What,” Renko confusingly said, looking at Jun.  “What’s going on?”

“I’m going to have to keep whatever is chasing us at bay,” he answered, taking what seemed to be an MP5 racked up from the side of the vehicle and a silencer as his seat slid towards the sunroof.  “You know how to work a vehicle’s GPS, right?”

“Somewhat.  What should I do?”

“The car will not budge until a location has been set on the computer.   You’ll need to input coordinates on it when it asks for them.  Considering that a meeting was supposed to happen between the two of you, I hope you had a destination in mind.”

Renko became nervous, now knowing that she was responsible for their lives. She had no idea where to head off to, despite the fact that her lead wanted her to meet at his apartment first.  Trembling at the displayed holographic map the computer now projected in front of her, she began to fumble around with it.

 

The sunroof opened and the young army personnel’s seat platform began to raise him up to the top of the van.  He unbuckled the seat belt, standing up with his gun strapped around him.  As he was raised up passed the sunroof, he noticed that a black mist had surrounded the vehicle.  He took out a pair of goggles from his front jacket pocket, equipping them around his eyes, and switched night-vision on.  Raising his gun and switching the safety off, he focused his eye on the iron sight to make sure his aim was sure and then began to scope the surrounding area.

Jun stood on top of the vehicle, now alert for what was to come.  He had an unusual sense of danger climbing within his spine after seeing the crater behind them a few paces from the van.  He took in and exhaled a breath, refocusing himself on the matter at hand.  He did not want to jump off the van, given that whoever placed that crater behind them must have wanted to lure them out of their only escape vehicle.  He knelt down, scoping his surroundings.

The sound of thunder emulated in the sky and a downpour of rain followed through.  Droplets of water from above pelted down onto Jun’s entire body, quickly drenching him with rain.  He took his hood that hung behind his jacket and moved it over his head and continued to examine the area.  There seemed to be nobody around for some time and with the constant sound of rain practically pelting everything, there was no point in staying outside.  He sighed, lowering his gun and made his way to the car seat that remained intact on the vehicle.  As he approached the seat, however, he saw a small red ribbon popping out at the top.

Raising his gun, he cautiously moved close to it.  His heartbeat quickened, which he tried to calm himself down by utilizing breathing techniques.  He moved his left hand towards the ribbon and as his hand moved above the object, a grayish figure tried to jump towards it.

“Gah,” he yelped, quickly pulling his hand back by reflex and pulled the trigger of the gun at the figure, releasing three bullets towards it.

The bullets made contact with the figure’s small body frame.  In response, it quickly flew towards Jun.  The military private placed his gun up front, blocking the figure advance.  The figure now revealed itself to him, to which a sense of terror shot within him as he saw the little girl’s now disfigured face.  With some difficulty, he shifted her advance to his left, making her to slip away from him.  He pressed a button on the gun’s rail, revealing a miniature bayonet at the end of the rail’s edge just below the barrel.  He proceeded to stab her with it, but she placed her hand in the way, effectively blocking the hidden knife.  Although the bayonet went through her hand, it stopped midway and shortly after, broke after too much stress was placed on it.

His eyes widened as he distanced himself from the little girl, who pulled out the bayonet that was stuck on her right hand.

“Nice try, but there’s no chance in defeating me if that’s all you’ve got,” she horrifically told him, pulling the sharp object out of her hand and threw it on the road.

Jun switched the radio communicator on strapped above his left chest and held onto a small blue button on the side.

“Renko, you better hurry up in finding a destination to go to.  We’ve got company!”

Renko quickly looked at the right corner of the vehicle, which was where Jun’s voice was coming from.

“I’m trying,” She exclaimed to herself, frantically trying to figure out how the map worked.

She heard gunshots from above, causing her to throw herself in a state of panic.  In the midst of reaction, she accidently threw the holographic map to the side, which bounced all over the front car interior.  She managed to catch it after it had slowed down, bringing it back in front of the computer to continue inputting a destination.  Doing so was difficult than it appeared.  At first, she thought she could just point and press where she wanted to go, which would most likely make the car move.  As she did so, however, nothing happened.  She did not realize that this was military equipment until she reminded herself that Jun was in the military and had modified his van to accommodate his occupation.

Like what Jun told her earlier, she had to input coordinates on the computer in order to find and set a destination, not on the hologram.  The thought of heading to the Hakurei Shrine had popped in her mind, but she did not remember the exact coordinates where it would be.  If only if Jun’s phone had internet access…

_That’s right, I could use my phone to find the location,_ she thought, realizing that she had her purse with her.

Unzipping her purse, she quickly reached in and pulled out her phone, swiping it on.  Fortunately enough, she had the location saved earlier when she was examining her investigative strings back at the dorms.  As the map appeared above the phone, she went to her saved locations section and pressed on the Hakurei Shrine button, which gave her the exact coordinates of the location she sought after.  While memorizing the numbers displayed on the phone, she saw in the corner of her right eye a blonde-haired woman partially cladded in plate armor and royal clothing jumping out of the driver’s mirror at the left side of the vehicle.  Her attention was brought to the blonde woman, who began to jump off the ground shortly after her landing.

Jun continued to fire burst rounds at Rumia, who, despite the fact that the bullets pierced through her round after round, continued to show no sign of stopping her relentless assault on him.  His expanded training in the military paid off, enabling him to avoid her attacks, while keeping at a distance.  Still, he had to mind his footing on the vehicle due to the rain, ensuring that he did not lose his balance to the slippery roof.  Soon enough, however, he unloaded all of his bullets on his machine gun, forcing him to throw the gun near the seat and pull out his sidearm to continue firing at her.

Rumia continually eschewed the bullets that she couldn’t dodge, allowing them to pierce through her entire body.  She eventually caused her prey to lose his footing after a seventh attempt at flying towards him. Seeing him slip upon himself gave her an opening, which she swiftly flew and grabbed him with both her hands around his neck, lifting him as she ascended in mid-air.

She maniacally laughed, largely in part of his foolhardy attempt in harming her with a physical weapon.  Jun struggled to break free from her grasp, but his attempt to do so showed signs of vanity as he saw himself lifting off ground level.  Just as she tried to tighten her grip around his neck, her hands began to flare up a dark aura, causing him to gag in agony.

“Just what were you trying to accomplish trying to face me with a weapon with no magical properties?”

Jun was losing consciousness, his face turning blue as she held a tight grip on his neck.

“What a sha-”

_Shink, twak._

“Heh, do you think that would work on me,” Rumia stated, looking down at her body to see a slim sword stabbing through her body from behind.

“Guess again,” Charlotte retorted, tightening her grip on the sword.

In an instant, a surge of white glowing energy shot through her sword arm, flowing through the slim sword.  This energy made contact with Rumia’s back, forcing her to drop Jun as a sharp shock of pain followed through.  Charlotte pulled the sword back after pouring more holy energy within Rumia and kicked her away, which incapacitated her as she fell into the crater.  She fell back down on the mirror platform that Jun was on, kneeling to him.

“You all right there,” she asked him, giving him a hand.

“Yeah, I am,” Jun coughed, gasping for air as he took her hand.

“Let’s get back in before she recovers.”

He nodded and the two jumped off the platform, landing on the van with ease.  When the two got back to the seat, Jun pressed a button just below the seat, which slowly brought the two back into the van.  The sunroof then replaced the opening, to which the two were still drenched.  Just when the two had arrived back in the van in one piece, the van began to move.

“I got it,” Renko said, turning around to see the very same woman that hovered off the ground.  “Uhh, who’s her, Jun-san?”

Charlotte situated him back on the seat, telling him to relax and looked back at the mushroom hat the young Japanese woman was wearing.

“Huh… I didn’t expect the President of the Sealing Club to be involved in this fiasco we’ve jumped into,” Charlotte answered in place for him and looked at her. “Seems like today is progressing too wildly than I thought…”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captured by the I.Y.E.A., Renko and her captors continue onward to the Hakurei Shrine while being chased by Rumia. Meanwhile, Eiji confronts Yukari, who saved his life from them, who's life is under constant threat from concurrent events happening between the Sealing Club members.

The van proceeded to its intended destination, driving through the night as it remained on the expressway.

Other vehicles began to fill the road, effectively making the blue van blend in with the others.  The rain continually pelted on the vehicles, emulating constant trickling knocks on them.  The blonde-haired woman cladded in plate armor and red clothing sat on the passenger side within the blue van, while Jun had his hands around his neck, checking if he was fine.  Behind the two sat Renko, who warily looked at the windows, making sure they were safe.  It’s been fifteen minutes since the three continued driving on this path, heading towards a destination that Renko had set on the map.  Jun was not in the mood to take the wheel at the moment, which, despite presenting itself in the front, he left it on auto-drive so the three can enjoy a safe drive.

“…What do you mean the Sealing Club was being monitored by the International Youkai Exterminators’ Agency,” Renko questioningly exclaimed to the two of them, who had their seats turned towards her.  “Furthermore, what is this organization you both are speaking about?!”

Charlotte and Jun looked at one another, surprised that Renko just found out about her club being supervised by them.

“Apparently, your family did not address anything about us at all to you,” Charlotte began, sitting back on her seat.  _Probably to protect her wellbeing when she inherited the club her grandmother ran a few generations ago…_

“Actually, no,” Jun added. “I’m from the organization she mentioned just now.  She’s from a different one similar to the one I’m in.”

Renko sat back on her seat.  At least the two did not have to restrain her when returning back into the van.  Jun and Charlotte faced one another, having their ears close to one another.

“Should we tell her about our relations to her club,” Jun whispered to Charlotte, keeping his hand near his mouth.

“Well, I suppose we don’t have a choice.  She needs to know what’s at stake at the moment.”

“Mmm…”

Jun turned his head to face Renko, returning back to normal sitting position.  Charlotte expanded her hands, revealing a small blue screen in front of her own face.

“You’re familiar with Sumireko Usami, right?”

“Yes…  She’s my grandmother.  How is she involved?”

“Good.  This will make explaining our involvement a little easier.  Anyways, ever since she pierced through the boundary that separated Gensokyo and our world fifty-seven years ago, we’ve been keeping a close eye on her club.  We’ve ensured that this Sealing Club did not cause any major trouble, while staying in the shadows to maintain the public’s peace.”

“Ah, I’ve read about that in her journal.  Something about a feeling she had about the shadows stalking her in some of her experiments?”

“Yeah, that sounds about right in terms of who was keeping an eye on her at the time.”

“Then tell me, was this organization you two are currently working for responsible for causing her experiments to fail?”

“Eh, some of it was us trying to prevent a major catastrophe from happening by her.  For the most part, we actually left her alone to figure where her experiments lead to.”

Charlotte kept swiping in the air, which irritated Renko as she saw her do so.

“Why does she have that screen blocking her face,” Renko asked Jun.

“Ah, well… she doesn’t understand Japanese, so she’s relying on the translation mod that the organization had recently updated on our devices that assists us on occasions such as this.”

“I heard that,” Charlotte coldly told him in English.

“Of course you did,” Jun jokingly retorted back in the same language.

“Devices?  You mean the watches that you both have on your arms?”

“Yes… How did you know?”

“Eiji had one in his possession.  Those watches look so much like the one he was using.”

“He had one on him?  Well, that explains everything…”

While Jun and Charlotte ran through the agency’s involvement with Renko’s grandmother, a sense of anger grew within Renko’s thoughts, mainly on Jun, who kept it a secret to her that he was working for this organization, which kept her at watch this whole time.  If this organization was responsible for neutralizing some of Sumireko’s projects at the time, was everything she did with Maribel those years ago all for naught?  Still, Jun did try to join the club a few years back, which she was glad that she did not let him in at the time.

“So, aside from just rescuing me from the clutches of Rumia, what are you two planning next?”

“We have to detain a rogue agent on the run.  He’s been causing us trouble lately.  We almost caught him by cornering him at his parents’ home, when he seemingly disappeared at the last second before apprehending him.”

Charlotte swiped her hands in mid-air, to which a green holographic file appeared on her right hand.  She then pushed it to Renko, who caught it in front of her hands.  Tapping on the file, she looked at it, becoming shocked at the rogue agent’s name.

“Now that we’re most likely back to square one, we have to talk to those who know him.  We already spoke to his parents, but they have no new information that can aid us in our pursuit.”  For a second, Jun choked up, holding back his feelings.  “Knowing him as a friend and from what I heard from you, I already know that this rogue agent and you are affiliated with each other.  We demand that you cooperate with us by giving out information in where he may have ended up at.”

Renko leaned back on her seat, frowning at the name of the rogue agent on the file and looked back at Jun.

“Very well…”

Jun’s eyes widened.

“You’re… willing to cooperate with us?

“What choice do I have right now?  I’m trapped between two members of an organization that’s been watching the Sealing Club for generations, who’s proven how to deal with troublesome suspects.  If I try to flee, chances are, I have no chance of escape anyways.  Besides, I don’t want to be that girl’s meal ticket anyways...”

“Huh…”

Jun sat back, looking at Charlotte.  Usually, anyone being interrogated by this agency would most likely try to break free, but Renko seemed to be cooperating, despite the fact that she began to show anger in her tone.  He could feel through the Sealing Club President’s words that the suspect they were chasing was affiliated as friends to himself, which he realized that it would be a difficult decision to make when given chance to apprehend him.  The two looked at one another and nodded in agreement to continue the interrogation.

“In any case, we’ll keep the questioning brief and be on our way.”  He took in a deep breath.  “If you- no, if the Sealing Club were to have an activity tonight, where would it most likely take place at?”

For a second, Renko hesitated, looking outside.  The van was stuck in the midst of traffic, to which many cars were beeping outside.  Something must have piqued the traffic goers’ attention, given that quite a few of them were disembarking their cars.

“If our next activity would begin…  It’d most likely be where we’re heading towards now.”

“Huh?  You mean the directions you inputted on the map?”

“Mhmm…”

The two turned their seats to the map between one another, noticing that there was a red dot placed near the Yatsugatake Mountain Range on a highway that ran by it.

“The Sealing Club planned on heading to the Hakurei Shrine today,” Charlotte quietly exclaimed.  “But why there?”

“Either they were on a trip to Memory Lane, or trying to redo a ritual Sumireko had performed at the time,” Jun responded in kind.  “In any case, it’s worth checking out, given that he must have teleported there just recently.”  He stared back at Renko.  “As fo-”

“I hate to break it between you two, but we have company!”

Renko continued to look out the window, now seeing a small black orb in the sky flying above traffic.

Charlotte saw Renko and looked out the window as well to confirm their prisoner’s observation, locking her eyes on the shadowed figure while remaining perfectly still on her seat.  She gave hand signals to Jun, who nodded and began to normalize himself on his seat.  Their seats returned back to driving position, allowing them to face the traffic once more.

“What should we do,” Renko quietly asked the two.

“Act normal,” Jun answered.

Renko moved herself behind Jun’s seat, sitting on the seat that was behind her and buckled up.

_Good idea, Renko,_ Jun thought, slowly putting his finger on a glass lid and lifted it, revealing a green button.

“What are you doing,” Charlotte quietly asked him, noticing that he had his finger on it.

“In case if our chaser spots us, we’ll be able to get away in no time.  I’d recommend you to buckle up in case if I have to use it.”

Charlotte mentally objected with this plan, but given that the two were stuck in the middle of traffic, she complied, slowly taking her seatbelt and buckled up.  She kept her eye on the floating orb in the sky, which began to pass over other cars.  While the three acted calm and normal in their vehicle, the orb continued on.  Some citizens noticed the pitch-black orb flying above them, which despite the fact that rain continued to pour onto the highway, some of them were piqued at it.  These people got out of their cars and began to take pictures of it, even selfies on it.

Renko closed her eyes, her hands clasped together in front of her face, bending down to face the ground and assuming a praying motion, while the others continued to glare at it.  As she held her position, her mind thoughtfully visualized a small red ribbon that was tied onto blonde hair.  Suddenly, a mental jolt hit her head.  She opened her eyes and she tried to spring up from her seat, only to be locked down by the seatbelt.

“Jun, press the button, now,” she yelled, extending her hand between the two.

He reflexively pressed it and saw that Renko tried to reach for it, only to be restrained by her seatbelt.

“Eh,” he responded.

The front wheel came back in front of Jun, to which the van began to move.  Shortly after, the vehicle began to hover off the ground, grabbing the surrounding drivers’ attention to it.  It then shot up into the air.

_Katonk_

The noise came from above the vehicle, followed by the small girl that the three encountered several minutes ago rolling off to the left side of the van, falling down on the highway.  A dent above Jun almost hit his head, which caught Charlotte’s attention.  Turning her head, she saw the little girl fall down on Jun’s side, which she jumped away from him.  The vehicle turned in mid-air and shot forward, heading to the direction.

“Why did you make me set this car into flight mode so suddenly?”

“I-I wanted to save us from danger.”

“Tsk.  Now, the citizens would wonder why they saw a flying vehicle in the middle of th-”

“She’s right, Jun.” Charlotte interrupted.  “If it wasn’t for her, Rumia would have broken through the sunroof and killed us here and now.”

“Huh, what do you mean?”

“Look above you.”

He looked, seeing that a dent almost drove itself onto his head.

“Woah!”

He instinctively ducked down, turning the steering wheel at the same time.  He almost made the vehicle spin in mid-air, refocusing his attention back on flying the car to its intended direction.

“You should thank me that I knew that youkai would do that…”

Jun nervously laughed and then sighed.  “Yeah… Yeah, I should…”

 

The last event Eiji witnessed was that he was hit by the blunt end of a grappling hook by Mizunami on the chest, then falling down from the balcony of his parents’ apartment to his death.  Now, he continued to descend into emptiness.  For a while, he screamed as he fell, but figuring out shortly after his descent within this dimension that he had seemingly continued for eternity, he silenced himself.  His eyes wandered around the hazy background as he freefell, seeing dark red eyes that apparently gazed at him at all directions changed from a purple glow, then black, then red, and back to purple.

_Why,_ Eiji thought, closing his eyes.  _Why is the world turning upside-down so suddenly…?_

“You know, you really are a fool,” Yukari stated, wrapping herself around him, pulling him closer to her body from behind.

Eiji could feel her grasp behind him, who slowly began squeezing him.  He recognized this lost feeling that he had thrown away two years ago after her disappearance once more, yet at the same time, knew that she was threatening to kill him.

“What do you mean about me being one,” he intimately asked, moving his head near hers and looked at her.

She slightly blushed, moving her lips near his ear.

“Giving up college in order to start a new life ahead of time, when the right choice should have been pursuing for a better opportunity in life.  Then, throwing away the title of Kensei in order to preserve your name, which was an opportunity to grasp for fame.  Now, you’re planning on giving up the national lottery you’ve won in order to take revenge against Rumia, which could have been a chance to start over on a new path in life.”

“H-how did you know about that?”

“Your journal was lying around your room, which piqued my interest.  Also, I overheard the conversation between you and one of your friends just now.”

“You… looked into my journal?”

“Yes.  It’s right here.”

Shifting one of her hands to reach into a gap to her left, she took a cloth sack out and moved it to his chest.  The sounds of small bells rung as it hit his chest.  Eiji moved one of his hands and held onto it, then moved his hand onto hers, holding it.  Her face turned slightly red as he held onto her hand and in response, she tensed up, slowly pull him closer.

“A-ah?”

“It’s been so long since I’ve been held like this…  I really missed you throughout the years, Yukarin.”

Yukari choked up for a second.

“I… I missed you as well…”  She straightened herself up, holding back her emotions.  “But… why are you giving up everything just for some petty revenge plot?”

Eiji sighed, just now realizing how strong she had become over the years.

“Well I… It’s not just a revenge plot I’m trying to execute.   I… made a promise to you before we last parted ways...  Do you remember it?”

“No, I don’t.  Elaborate for me, please.”

“I promised that I would be Renko Usami’s eyes and show her the way, should you not return from a trip that the Sealing Club had embarked on years ago.  I did my best to keep an eye out for her throughout the years, despite the fact that I had work and several projects to complete in order to prepare for today.”  He breathed, noticing now that her grasp on him had softened up.  “When I met her for the first time about a year ago, she told me that she was looking for a woman named Merry...”

Yukari turned each other upright in mid-air, now holding onto him.

“Ever since then, she’s held on so long to meet her once more, despite running into dead ends on her efforts.  She even invited me to join the club two weeks ago, which I did ascent to the invitation, only to be the last member that witnessed her disbanding it after our trip back from Kyoto recently…”  He slightly laughed in sorrow.  “I wish I would have joined her club when we first met in order to help her at the time. I could ha-”

“Enough, Eiji-kun,” she told him, putting her pointer finger on his lips.  “From what I’ve heard, you’ve done what you could to protect, prepare, and arm her before she planned on breaching the boundary.  Although I did wish for you to join the club at an earlier time, I’m… grateful that you did your best, considering what you’ve been through over the years.”

He sorrowfully sighed, relaxing himself.

“You’re giving up everything up that’s been offered you to have a better life in order to protect and show her the way, correct?”

“Yes.  Yes I am…”

“How noble you’ve become over the years…  I wish there were people that held greater values these days, throwing unnecessary emotions and feelings away for doing what’s necessary.”

She flew back, still holding onto him.  She opened up a gap to her left, reached her hand in it to grab a purple yukata robe, and opened it to wrap him in it.

“Very well, I shall let you continue to take revenge against Rumia, since she is most likely giving chase to her as we speak.   Heed my advice though:  Take your revenge, but do not kill.  I will then grant you both a safe entry to where you may find Maribel.”

Eiji slipped his arms in the yukata, letting Yukari wrap the obi around him.  He then wrapped the cord of the journal bag around the belt.

“Then, I will not fail this time around.  You can count on this samurai to fulfill his duty.”

She smiled, hearing those words once more so long ago.  Once she flew down to a reasonably safe distance between the ground and her, she let him go, forcing him to continue his descent to the ground.  As he continued his descent onto ground level, he looked up at her, seeing her opening a gap in mid-air and flying back in it.

 

Thanks to flight mode, the blue van did not take long to arrive near the Yatsugatake Mountain Range.  Jun set the vehicle to descend down onto the highway that ran towards the red dot displayed on the map, pressing an orange button on the steering wheel once they were approaching close to ground level.  Doing so brought the wheels back to their original sideways position, allowing the car to drive onto the highway instead of remaining floating on it.

“She’ll be chasing us, no doubt,” Charlotte told the two, assessing the situation while looking at the map.  She pressed one of the buttons on the computer’s edge, which initiated a pulse wave that ran through the holographic map above the screen.  It revealed a blue arrow on the highway, a red dot halfway on the mountain, and a yellow dot in mid-air.  “It’s probably best if we separate in order to divert our pursuer’s attention once we reach our destination.”

“Agreed,” Jun answered.  “I’ll be distracting her, since I know how to pilot this vehicle.  We’ll need to convince her that we’re all together, so I’ll be releasing a black smoke mist from the vehicle before you two make a run for the shrine.  That would be the signal to make a break for it.”

Renko remained silent, seeing the two strategize while going along with the plan.  Now knowing that her and Charlotte were going to make a mad dash to the shrine stairs, she had to gather her belongings together.  Making sure she had her purse strapped on her, she positioned herself near the door that the stairs would be, nervously trying to calm her mind to make a break for it when the time came.

The rain from earlier disappeared from their vicinity as the van as it came to a stop on the highway.  According to the map projected between Jun and Charlotte, they had arrived at their destination.  To the right was a set of worn-out stone staircases, which ascended up a steep hill.  Charlotte and Renko looked at them, which confused the blonde French swordmaster.

“You sure this is the place,” she asked the captive.

Renko nodded, knowing that she couldn’t respond back in kind due to the language barrier.

The orange blip on the map began to grow smaller in size, approaching towards the blue arrow.  Jun signaled the two to stay low and they complied.  From one of the mirrors, he could see the small girl, who still seemed to be fine, despite now having a burn running across the back of her neck, approaching the rear side of the vehicle.

“How come every time I try to harm her, she comes back unscathed,” he asked Charlotte.

“She’s immune to physical attacks,” she answered, taking a file out from her computer, pushing it onto the windshield in front of her for Jun to analyze it.  “Or at least, highly resistant to them; additionally, she had a period to recover herself using the shadows, to which night time is her strongest hours doing so.”

“Hmph…”

The little girl hovered above the car, flying around the van to assess her prey.  They were apparently acting normal, except for the blonde woman, who had apparently made projections appear in front of the windshield.  This reminded her of the prey she killed the last time she was in this world, who summoned similar projections in order to obstruct her from killing her.  She became agitated at the sight of it, drawing back to prepare to charge at it.

_sssSSssssssssSSS_

A black smoke emerged from underneath the car, to which Rumia immediately charged into the windshield, unaware of it.  Fortunately enough for Charlotte, the little girl’s small body was not enough to break through the windshield, though she did cause a sizable dent onto it.  The black smoke engulfed both the van and Rumia as she flew back to continue to assault the vehicle.

“Now’s your chance, get out of here,” Jun yelled at the two.

The two complied, opening their doors on the van and silently closed it once they were outside, making a mad dash towards the worn-out stairs off the highway.  Rumia was not aware of them, focusing her attention to the van.  Once more, Jun pressed the green button, entering flight mode once more.

“Don’t you think you’ll get away from me,” Rumia yelled, seeing the blue van beginning to hover off the road.  As she was about to charge once more, she had a sudden urge to cough, then she sneezed.  She coughed and wheezed, trying to draw in air once more.  She touched her face, noticing that she was covered in an unknown black powdery substance that affected her senses of smell.  Continuing to sneeze incessantly, she covered herself in her own black bubble, trying to prevent this black powdery substance from sticking onto her skin.

Seeing her slowly descend and bubble up, Jun flew the van up to her and piloted the vehicle towards her, trying to ram her in mid-air.  The vehicle had to accumulate speed before reaching her, giving Rumia enough time to react to it.  She flew to the right, effectively avoiding it as it flew out of the blackened smoke.  Despite her eyes beginning to swell and burn, she followed it, being careful to not fly into the smoke that still trailed below the car.

After jumping over the railing of the high way, the two women began ascending the stone stair case that lay ahead of them.  The stairs were not maintained for ages, forcing the two to take heed not to trip on its aged surface.  Renko almost slipped on one of the stair steps, to which Charlotte caught her hand before she slipped off, pulling her back up.

“A-arigato,” Renko told her.

“Don’t mention it,” Charlotte responded.  “We still have a long ways to go.”

The two continued their ascent, finally arriving at the run-down tori gate, which lead into a flat courtyard, then to the abandoned shrine.  The sign above it had fallen some time ago and due to the absence of a living human to take care of the shrine, went missing.  Renko moved near one of the sides of the gate, placing her hand on it in an attempt to catch her breath, while Charlotte looked behind them, seeing how Jun fared with Rumia.

The pitch-black orb shot out several green and red orbs from itself at the blue van.  Despite its bulky size, the van was able to maneuver around it, to which it proceeded to fly towards her.  She dodged it and continued to fire orbs at it, to which the flying vehicle responded by making a U-turn, followed by Jun popping out of the sunroof, shooting at the orbs coming towards the vehicle.  The orbs exploded, to which two laser beams shot to the side of the van, closing down on it.

Jun popped back into the van, closed the roof, and ran back into the driver’s seat, facing Rumia as the beams began closing in on him.

“Let’s see how you face against this,” he exclaimed, holding onto the steering wheel with one hand and swiped the map away to gain access to the vehicle’s functions.  He switched the car’s nitro on, to which the exhaust pipe began to breathe out blue energy.  At the same time, he pressed his right foot on the pedal, propelling the vehicle towards the black flying orb.

The black orb continued to close both beams together, but cancelled doing so after realizing that the vehicle was closing in on it.  Rumia ejected herself from the bottom of the orb, making the vehicle crash through it.

 “Hah, just like that witch with her broom,” she quietly commented, looking at the vehicle as it flew forward.  “In any case, I should keep him occupied, while I pursue the two at that Torii gate.”

Motioning her hands, she made the orb above her chase the vehicle.  Additionally, she shot a green orb from her hand, which released a multitude of orbs from behind that honed in on the blue van.  Once the orbs gave chase, she turned her head to the women who were trying to catch a breather from their run up the stairs.  Charlotte took notice of this and looked back at Renko.

“You’ll have to get to the shrine by yourself,” she told her, taking her rapier out.

“Shikashi, naze,” Renko asked her, shaking her head in dismay.  “Watashi wa, sore ga issho ni koshū subekida to omouga...”

“I’m afraid plans have changed just now.  In any case, I’ll hold her off, while you find a place to hide in the shrine.  Go, now.”

“H-hai…”

Renko proceeded to run towards the run-down shrine, while Charlotte began projecting mirrors with her sword around the courtyard, backing away to the center.  Rumia flew through the gate and landed on the worn-down stone path, entering the mirrored arena the French fencer had created.

“You’re going to face me in a match,” she bafflingly scoffed her, looking around at the mirors.  “You must be out of your mind, given that the previous opponent was no match for me!”

Projecting a mirror in front of herself, she poked through the center of it.  Another mirror to Rumia’s left projected the rapier’s blade out of it, causing her to instinctively jump away from it.

“You’ve just faced a newbie youkai hunter,” the blonde fencer told her, readying her blade in front of her.  “Now you’ll be dueling against a professional occult slayer!”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumia proves to be an unfettered adversary, even for France's Grandmaster in Fencing. Renko deals with her powers, which is soon revealed by her savior, who saves her from being killed by Rumia using the greatest of entrances. Now together, vengeance can be justified for those victimized by the small youkai of adrkness (LOL)...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers, just saying Happy Early Thanksgiving out there and enjoy that food your visiting relatives and family are cooking for the coming days! In any case, go enjoy a good read while its in the making, whether it'd be a book, poetry, or a fanfic like this one. Will be busy with work for the next coming days, so expect the original scheduled releases to change to earlier in the week.

_A professional Occult Slayer,_ Rumia thought, changing her face back to normal, smiling at her opponent.  _This ought to be interesting._

She had never seriously fought against anyone else other than professional incident resolvers from Gensokyo and a few Youkai Hunters in the land she now wandered in.  Fighting someone who seemed to be classified as a different and higher form of incident resolver piqued her curiosity.  She hovered once more, readying herself for what may come.  After positioning her blade, Charlotte motioned a thrust with her sword at her, despite the long reach.  A slender, white beam shot from the blade’s tip towards Rumia, which she angled her head to avoid it.  It zoomed passed her and she looked back at her opponent, flying towards her.

But the beam came back at its intended target from behind.  Not noticing this, it hit directly onto Rumia’s back.  At the same time, her opponent sent another beam at her and a second hit landed onto her abdomen.  The two hits caused her to flinch, creating an opening for the semi-armored fencer to close the distance between the two.  A leading strike was initiated, followed by a number of stabs.  Quickly recovering from the beams, Rumia nimbly dodged her pokes and continued doing so, slowly flying back.  She tried to move forward to close in the distance, but each time she did so, the sharp point of the foreign weapon kept meeting her near her face, forcing herself to stay away from it.

_Fine, you want to play like that, eat this!_

She flew to the side, rolling on the floor and launched herself in the air, firing several orbs of danmaku at her opponent as she did so.  Her opponent nimbly dodged the oncoming orbs with relative ease, figuring out that most of them were not even coming towards her.  Once they had dissipated, she looked at the little girl in the air, who seemed to have taken the higher elevation.

Rumia continually fired more danmaku at her while staying at a reasonable distance.  Given that the woman was not flying at all, the little girl believed her opponent was at a disadvantage.  Charlotte ran to one of her mirrors and jumped through it.

“I won’t let you get away,” Rumia yelled, flying towards the mirror she went through to chase her down.

She approached the mirror, seeing no trace of her as she saw through it.  Seeing her own reflection on the mirror made her irritated and to vent her anger, she ignited one of her hands, clenched, and punched through the mirror, shattering it.  She planted her feet on the ground, satisfied at the shattered mirror that lay around her.

“Hmph, that should teach you to mess with me,” Rumia commented, looking at the shattered pieces around her.  Her eyes widened when she saw through them.  Noticing that there seemed to be mirrors reflected upon it, she looked around her to see multiple mirrors surrounding the area with Charlotte’s reflection showing through them.

“Mirror Sign: Sword Rain,” Charlotte yelled, stabbing through a mirror many times that was in front of her.

The small shards below her feet shot out a number of white beams, causing her to jump back to avoid them.  More beams emerged from the mirrors surrounding her, making her focus on dodging all of them.  Thanks in part of her small build; she managed to dodge the oncoming beams from multiple directions, floating to maintain her evasive options.  Pretty soon though, the beams seemed to multiply as more appeared around her until she seemed to have run out of room to graze through them.

Rumia took note that the beams were reflecting upon the mirrors that surrounded her, when suddenly, Charlotte appeared from above and struck her down, piercing through her small body.  She was struck down, followed by several projectiles hitting her as she was pinned down by the slim blade.  The beams then disappeared as Charlotte pulled her sword out of the small girl.  She tried to grasp it, but the blade’s light illuminated through the sword, stinging her hand and body, forcing her to endure the blade’s edge instead as it drew itself out of her.  Her opponent turned her blade and slashed her body in an upward angle, making her launch in the air.  The girl quickly recovered nearly hitting the mirror behind her as she adjusted her sight on the target, but was met with her opponent charging at her once more, performing another leading lunge.

She had enough time to react the attack and charged forward to strike her face.  Charlotte spun around and jumped into yet another mirror to her side, then reappeared at a mirror close to Rumia and poked her.  She continued jumping between mirrors and attacking her, confusing the little girl in what to do.

“Tsk,” Rumia scoffed, after enduring her opponent’s constant hit-and-run strategy through mirrors a couple of times.  “This is getting annoying… What to do?”

Her hands lit up and began releasing a dark fog around her area, covering the environment in a dark haze.  Charlotte tried to attack Rumia once more before she was covered in it, but Rumia jumped into the fog, dodging to the side of her lundge and disappeared in it.  The fog continually grew around her, forcing the French knight to light up and hold her sword high to sustain her area of sight.  The fog was artificial, dispersing away as the light illuminated around her, but not completely, which held its ground a few yards around her.  She tried to pursue where the little girl had jumped off to, but she was nowhere in sight.

_Tsskleeh, tsskleeh, chkleeh._

The sound of mirrors shattering and crashing onto the ground shocked her, which drew her attention towards them.  As she made her way to the sound, it did not take long for her to figure out the youkai’s strategy.  She backtracked and quickly dashed to an unharmed mirror, jumping through it as she visualized the next mirror that she may be going after.  However, Rumia’s figure reflected through it at a distance as Charlotte was about to attempt a dive into the mirror.  The little girl winded up a punch and flew at it like a bullet, punching through it.  Shards of glass flew towards the woman, giving her little time to react to it.  She stopped and covered herself in a vain attempt to block the broken mirror.  Her armor protected her vitals, but the smaller pieces still cut through her arms and sides.

More mirror shards fell around the area thanks in part of Rumia punching through them.  Avoiding the myriad of falling glass shards, she finally propped up a mirror in front of her and walked through it after cutting through a large mirror shard that was about to fall on her, getting out of the black fog.  After making her exit from a mirror her opponent had not shattered yet, she made the mirror behind her disappear, planted her sword on the ground, and checked her wounds.  Her sword arms were marginally cut up.  The large shard that had fallen on her was split, but broke and split into many smaller pieces.  Some of them unintendedly flew onto her legs as it broke and though her battle dress protected the top half of her legs, the bottom half was not so fortunate; she wished she had worn greaves instead of leather boots to prevent cuts piercing through them.

After breaking all of the mirrors and suffering light wounds on herself from the falling shards, Rumia commanded her black mist to dissipate, which in turn, the ruined mirrors around her simultaneously disappeared.  Once the fog cleared up, she stared at the wounded occult slayer, flying slowly at her.  Charlotte would have made the shards stuck on her leg disappear, but doing so would end up opening her wounds in droves, forcing her to pull them out one by one.  She didn’t get far in doing so, however, for the little girl was hovering in front of her.  Her hands were continually lit as the blonde-haired woman slowly backed away to her sword, pulling it out.

“I’d end it right now,” Rumia began as Charlotte readied her sword.

“Shut up,” she retorted, flickering her sword at her, releasing a beam of light at her.

Rumia moved to the side and shot back a green orb at her sword hand, disarming her.

“But you’re injured and it’d be a waste ending you right here.  Besides, it was an interesting fight; one that deserves sparing you… for now.”

Charlotte looked at her sword fling away from her hand, landing back on the ground.  She was in no condition to fight, especially when her arms were cut up and her mobility hampered by her own mirror shards.  Having no choice, she painstakingly limped back, keeping an eye on the little girl to be sure that she did not go against her word in sparing her own life.  Blood continually flowed down her wounds as she struggled to make her way to the Torii gate.

Rumia turned back to the abandoned shrine, fighting against her hunger pangs as the scent of blood was permeating from that foreign woman.  This time, she was going to complete her hunt, and nobody would interrupt her no more.

 

Renko pulled her gun out of her purse shortly after taking refuge behind the ruined shoji wall on the other side of the prayer room, switching the safety off to prepare for anything to happen.  She had the front door on sight thanks in part of the many holes punctured through the paper wall, making sure that nobody other than the woman that helped her earlier had entered in the shrine.  Much to her dismay, however, the little girl approached the entrance, flying towards the door with her arms extended out to each side.  She closed her eyes, recalling what Eiji had explained her in gathering energy into the bullet a few days ago.

_Gather up my energy to the handle and it will automatically transfer into the bullet,_ she thought, concentrating on storing her ki energy on the gun.  Despite the fact that her situation seemed to be grim, a calm, water-like feeling from around her seemed to be flowing through her hands, surrounding the gun.  This caught Rumia’s attention, feeling the surrounding energy from behind the wall she stared at.  This must have been where her prey was at, to which she excitingly approached it.  Hunger immediately overtook her and given that her prey had no ability to fire a type of danmaku, she was going to be easy to catch, compared to that occult slayer.

Rumia changed her face and gleefully hopped over the ruined wall, showing her face to Renko.  The brunette with the mushroom hat opened her eyes and pointed the gun up at an angle, picturing the little girl’s Lolita dress in her thoughts.  Rumia’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of her opponent’s blue flare gun and soon enough, it was too late to move away of its line of fire.

“Gun Sign,” Renko instinctively yelled, pulling the hammer with her thumb. “3D Printer Gun!!”

**_BOOM!!!_ **

She pulled the trigger.  The gun released a fast transparent laser that penetrated through Rumia’s abdomen.  She was sent flying back upon contact, crashing through the neglected wooden wall of the shrine and ended up skidding onto the courtyard.  The recoil was so powerful on Renko’s arms that she stumbled back from it, alongside her hat flying behind her.  She looked at the gun in amazement, then back at Rumia, who was trying to recover from a distance.

“Woah,” Renko told herself, standing up with the gun on hand.  “I never expected this gun to be THAT powerful!”

Rumia struggled to take a knee after pushing herself off the ground, seeing her wounds increasingly becoming worse.  She lit up one of her hands and began cauterizing her recent wound, knowing that she took a mortal blow to one of her lungs.  Though she resented the outside rules practically having no rules stated for initiating Danmaku battles, she was surprised that her opponent caught her off-guard with a fast-moving laser projectile.  She continually moved her hand onto one of her arms, temporarily sealing the wounds.  After completely curing herself, she looked back at Renko, who began descending down the stairs of the shrine’s entrance, maintaining her hat on her head.

“Tsk,” she scoffed, coughing blood, despite sealing already sealing her wounds.  “You’ll pay for that!”

“So-nanoka,” Renko mocked back, extending her arms out, imitating her.

Anger flustered on the little girl’s face as she heard that name.  Blinded by it, she quickly flew at Renko, wanting to just kill her at this point.  Renko readied herself to fire back, but as she pulled the trigger once more, nothing shot out of the barrel.

“Uh oh-”

“-Ahh!”

Caught by surprise, Rumia was promptly pressed down by what appeared to be a human male covered in a purple yukata.  This human fell upon her on his backside, pressuring her back on the ground, knocking her out.

“Oww,” he stated, standing up and brushing dirt off the yukata.

He noticed that he almost stepped on a little blonde girl.  He quickly jumped away from her while checking if his armor underneath the yukata was fine.  Renko looked at the fallen person who perfectly stood up, realizing that it was Eiji.  Puzzled how he arrived here on at a time she was in urgent need of help, she looked up, not seeing anyone or anything that could have possibly dropped him from above.

“H-how were you able to get here so suddenly,” she asked him, surprised that he dropped down to save her just now.

“I had a bit of help,” Eiji answered, taking the gloves he pocketed within the yukata and threw it to Renko, taking the outerwear off.  “You’ll need that to streamline the gun’s use.  In any case, danger is nearby and we have to get to a safe area here before she arrives.”

“About that… you’re on her.”

“Really?”  He looked back at the little girl.  The description about her matched the video feed he watched throughout the years.  “Oh…”

She caught and thanked him for it, slipping the leather gloves on after pocketing the gun.  Many rainbow-like strings began appearing around her, dancing about as the gloves adjusted to her side.  These strings then entered into the gloves shortly after it was done adjusting to her hands.  She pulled out the gun once more, seeing the energy flowing through her hands and entering the gun’s handle.  Additionally, many strings appeared around the shrine, permeating an aura of brilliance around them.

“What is this,” she asked, looking at the strings, seeing all sorts of colors floating around the shrine.

“Cosmic energy,” he answered, amazed at the sight.  “It’s the most difficult element to harness.  Only someone who studied strings and physics can harness it.  I never knew it would be you that did so.”

“Hah…”

“So Nanoka?”

Feeling this energy flow around the woman she was going to eat, Rumia quickly recovered.  She hovered up, slowly flipping back to view the two humans that were being rather pesky.  Once more, despite her injuries, she extended her arms to her sides.

“I’ve heard those words before…  You must be Rumia, right,” Eiji stated, turning towards her with a deadened straight face.

“Yeah, so,” she answered, her face slowly morphing due to hunger.  “Got business with me?”

Eiji placed the two weapons strapped behind him near the purple robe.  He readied himself in the Kyoshu Karate stance he trained in ever since his beginning years in martial arts.  His face slowly flustered up in a darkened rage at the sight of the little girl.

“Hmph.”

Rumia scoffed as she saw him ready up.  “Hah, do you think physical attacks would wo-”

“Eiji, wait!”

She was shocked as Eiji landed a right hook her, followed by an uppercut, a spinning crescent kick, and a palm strike.  The last strike pushed her back, forcing her to recover as her flight broke once more.  Unlike last time, his strikes seemed to have a little more power behind them.  He must have trained for this day ever since that incident between her and Renko happened four weeks ago.  What’s even more appealing about this man was the fact that the darkness within him grew even deeper.  The thought of eating him now replaced her original plans in consuming the now brightened woman.

“Ahahah~!  Nice strikes you’ve got there,” Rumia laughed, licking the blood that was flowing down her lips.  “This day just keeps getting interesting by the minute...”

 

The fight raged on for two minutes as both participants traded blows each bout, maneuvering around the courtyard.  Rumia’s small frame and agile reflexes were able to keep up with Eiji’s swift strikes in landing hits on her, but Eiji’s anger was sharply focused to where each blow almost knocked her back.  She initially thought that he was some angry fighter, but feeling the magnitude of his attacks on her cauterized wounds had made some of them rupture back open made her think otherwise.  She shook her hand, composing herself back in the air as blood splattered on the ground.  Once more, he went on the attack, starting with a leading flicker jab.  Rumia maneuvered under it and lunged towards him.  Extending her hand, she grabbed on the neck of his armor, spinning around in mid-air, and slamming him on the ground.  He quickly rolled back and stood back up, his armor still remaining intact.

_I have to thank Jun for constantly throwing me around during our sparring matches,_ he thought, rushing towards the floating girl once more.  _It’s prepared me reasonably well for this day._

_Hmph, so quick of him to charge to his death,_ she thought, smiling as he dashed towards her.  She broke her flight and crouched.  _I’ll just duck as he performs an air kick and-_ “-ah?”

He closed in on her, spinning to the right and extending his right leg forward after seemingly sitting on his left, performing a power slide as he extended his right leg on his front.  Intending on sliding under her, it must have been a stroke of luck as he made contact with her shin, knocking her up as he proceeded to motion through his attempt.  Rumia saw him slide under her as she flipped in the air and then eyed Renko, who was watching their fight.

_That’s right.  I could use her as a hostage now that he’s behind me!_

Flipping her attention towards her original prey, she began flying towards her, shooting a green orb.  This time, she was not going to hold back, given the fact that both of them were now able to fight back.  Seeing the little girl fly towards her, Renko pointed the gun at the charging youkai, doing her best to line her shot up.  With the hammer loaded, she pulled the trigger, releasing a fast blue laser projectile.

_This time, I’ll just-_ “Ack!”

Rumia tried to evade the bullet to the right, but the bullet curved itself towards her, striking her on her shoulder by surprise.  She was halted, to which Eiji caught up with her.  He grabbed her on the arm that was shot and threw her onto a tree behind him.  The green orb multiplied and moved quickly towards Renko in a straight line.  Renko rolled to the left, dodging them on time, despite being surprised that her bullet had honed onto her target.  The gloves charged the gun once more and she ran back to Eiji’s belongings to ensure its safety.

“Hmph, and I expected more from you,” Eiji remarked, switching fighting stances to Mushinryu Ninjutsu.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself just yet,” Rumia shot back, standing back up shortly after being thrown onto the tree. 

“Haah!”

Eiji sprinted once more towards her, to which she extended her arms to the side, charging up two blue orbs on the palm of her hands.

**Moon sign: Moonlight Ray!**

The two orbs shot out large blue laser beams and slowly began to close on each other.  Eiji initially thought of rushing and attacking her to break her pattern, but small bullet-like danmaku emerged around her, causing him to suddenly stop, backdash, and evade them as they approached him.  Despite the fact that the large laser beams were closing in on him, they disappeared as they were close to his arms.  Once the orbs disappeared, Rumia moved out of her corner to her left and respawned the orbs.  He tried once more to rush up to her, despite projectiles were flying around, but the orbs shot out once more, followed by more shots emerging through her body.  This forced him on the defense at a distance, evading the bullets as they came towards him, while minding the spacing between each projectile and the lasers that closed in on him to maneuver around them.

Fortunately for Renko, the incoming projectiles were not low enough to hit her.  Seeing Eiji’s possessions lying on the stone path, she avoided the fight to examine what Eiji brought, hoping that the spear was amongst one of them.  Recognizing the larger black slim bag among his possessions, she took it out, seeing that the red spear shaft now had a tip, making it a functional spear ready for use in combat.  It seemed to be reasonably heavy, most likely due to the fact that the blade was now in place.  She looked at the two combating one another, noticing that Eiji was in a tight situation.  She was going to fire her weapon to provide cover fire, when she had a sudden urge to extend her left hand to him.  She did so, which the cosmic strings floating around him began piercing through him.

The strings shot around Eiji flew through him, which surprised him while dodging Rumia’s bullets.  Shortly after, the bullets stopped emerging from the youkai and a shattering sound emulated on her side.  He hesitated a bit, observing her behavior as he felt a sudden surge of strength coursing through the strings that pierced him.

“Now, Eiji,” Renko yelled from behind, throwing the spear at him.

He turned his head towards her and saw the spear flying.  Because of its heavy weight and her lack of strength though, the spear did not go far and landed on the ground with the blade side planting itself on the overgrown grass.  Although he had a face palm moment witnessing the distance of the spear’s attempt at traveling to him, he noticed that the gem that Renko currently possessed was now inserted on the shaft.  The environment behind it began to distort.  He looked back at Rumia, now noticing that she was dazed from her efforts in shooting at him.  He took this chance to close in on her, dashing towards the little girl.

Rumia slowly recovered from spell shock.  Sustaining spell cards for a long period of time had always been a pain to execute, especially when she only used it during emergencies.  Now seeing Eiji’s swift approach, she tried to attempt a grab to trap him, but he suddenly stopped at a reasonable distance, causing her to stumble in front of him.  He shifted himself in his stance and then threw a flicker jab, followed by a gut punch.  The two hits connected, which forced her to cover herself in an attempt to block the third strike coming towards her.  This attack, however, was feigned, turning itself into a grab instead, taking her by the collar of her shirt and threw her over him, launching her in the air.

“My turn now,” he exclaimed, performing a circulating motion with his arms and stopping when they were close to his body.

His left hand was clenched in a fist and his first two right fingers near his face were pointing at an angle.  Quickly concentrating some of the cosmic strings that were floating around him into his hands and feet, he lunged towards the now thrown Rumia, striking her in mid-air with the combo string he practiced over the years of studying his favorite character’s special move: Mushin Gorai Kyaku.  The first two strikes were the same as what he executed earlier, making contact on the opponent, which kept her juggled in the air.  The third attack: an upper palm strike had grazed the side of her left head, removing the ribbon that tied her hair.  Not noticing this, he proceeded with the fourth attack: a left jumping spin side kick, striking her on the body, knocking her all the way to the left side of the spear.  She disappeared through the distorted environment after flying past the landed spear.

He crouched on the ground, skidding on the dirt as he eventually came to a stop, minding to keep his eyes shut to avoid the dust kicking onto him.  The ribbon landed on his head, and though he did not notice it, the solemn wind around him picked it up and blew it off for him.  He let out a sigh of relief and opened his eyes as Renko ran close to him with his sword bag and robe on hand.

“We did it, Eiji-kun,” Renko gladly told him, standing to his side.  “We were able to defeat her with us working together.”

He looked at the ribbon as it landed in front of his right foot and then eyed the spear that had pierced itself perfectly near the neglected stone path.  He observed the environment behind it, seeing it fluctuate.  Although his mind wanted to tell himself that it was over, his gut told him otherwise, now knowing that something seemed to be off behind it.

“No, it’s not over yet,” he coldly told Renko, standing up and shook his head.

“What do you mean?”

“I sense an ever growing darkness behind that spear…  In fact, there’s something going on beyond it…”


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been two years since Renko began her investigation for Maribel. Throughout these years, most of the clues and leads she gathered seemed to have thwarted her efforts in finding her, ending in dead ends on the trail. However, today was different, for one lead, a mysterious rogue agent of an organization that had kept an eye on her Sealing Club, would bring the President of the Sealing Club to where her former friend awaits.
> 
> But not without facing opposition from both sides of the brane the two had opened up in the abandoned Hakurei Shrine grounds. On one side, Rumia was unsealed by said rogue agent, revealing her EX-Form and awaited their arrival to devour them, while the I.Y.E.A. was trailing behind the two in an effort to apprehend them before they escape their grasp. Can Renko and her lead break through them to reach their destination?

“Tell me, Eiji-kun…  Were you involved in a company called the International Youkai Hunters' Agency?”

Eiji looked upon the distortion behind the spear, his face turned shocked as he heard about that organization.

“How did you hear about them?”

“Jun was in it…  He was the one who brought me here.”

“I see…  So, everyone I practically knew had some involvement in that agency.”

He sighed and began to chuckle.  Renko awkwardly looked at him, feeling concerned for him.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No, it’s just… I find it ironic that my entire life I was being watched over like some guinea pig or lab rat by them.”

His arms became lax, lowering his fighting stance and moved toward the spear stuck on the ground.

“To answer your question, yes, I was involved in it, but not the same way as Jun or the others.  I once tried to apply for membership back in high school, sure, but they rejected me possibly out of maturity.  Then a representative of that organization called me for winning a Kendo Tournament at Tokyo International University about four years or so ago.  They tortured me for ten days at one of their training facilities once I arrived there.  I escaped from their grasp and to this day, I’ve not heard of them since then, until now…”

He pulled the spear off the ground and stepped back from the distortion.

“I’m sorry to hear about what they did to you...”  Renko noticed that he now had the spear on hand.  “What do you plan to do with that?”

“You’ll see.  For now, stand back.”

She complied, stepping a few paces away from Eiji.  He took in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and exhaled, turning back at the distortion that was in front of them.

_Ima, Tsuken,_ he thought, his eyes now turning bright blue.  He spun the blade to his left, and motioned it back to his right.  With each spin, it became quicker until he grasped it, stopping it behind him, blade side angling on the ground.

“ _Pierce through the barrier that borders Dreams from Reality, **Saigyouji Yari** ,”_ he yelled, stepping forward and swung the spear above him once.  Grasping the spear with both hands, he took a step forward and swung to the side, cutting through the distortion that only he could see.  Renko saw a thin line emulated from the spear tip’s motion, surprising her at its appearance.  He held the spear in place once it had cut through the distortion, then spun and gouged through the thin line, lifting it up.

The cut he created slowly began to open into a rectangular gate, revealing a different kind of world at the other side of it.  Compared to the abandoned shrine grounds around them, the environment that had revealed itself through the gate was black.  The stone path seemed to have maintained itself at the other side, giving him the assumption that the shrine at the other side had remained intact.  Renko remained awestruck as she had witnessed him open up what seemed to be a D-Brane in this abandoned shrine.

The spirit within Eiji released itself from him, allowing him to regain control of his own body.  He saw what was beyond the gate and looked at Renko, who was stunned at what he had just done.

“This is it, Renko,” he stated to her.  “This probably is our only chance to proceeding with your investigation on Merry is through this gate.  It’s the best lead we’ve got in finding her.”

“Wait, you’re willing to help me find her,” she asked him, surprised that he had taken a sudden interest in the investigation.  “Why sacrifice so much?”

“Mhm…”  He walked up to her, demanding his sword bag.  She gave it to him and he pulled out the wooden sword.  “There are several reasons why I’m coming with.  One reason would mainly be the fact that the place we’re going is packed with danger.  Because of it, I cannot guarantee a safe return, should you go alone…”  He shook his head, feeling a bit of random nostalgia hit him.  “Geez, I’m speaking as if I know the place, despite having no idea what I’ve done...”

“… You do care about me, huh?”

“Y-yeah, I do…”

Renko chuckled.  “I have to admit, you do act like her in a way…”

He slightly blushed at her comment, looking at the yukata Renko had on hand.

“That robe belongs to Yukari by the way,” he stated to her.  “She was the one who dropped me here in order to rescue you.”

“I-is that so,” she responded, grasping the yukata and felt grateful that the purple dressed woman knew him.  As she held the robe tightly, her mind suddenly flashed an image of a woman who looked like an older of Maribel in her sight for a second, causing her to flinch back.

“I’d suggest you to wear it while we pierce through this gate.  I’m sure she’s wants it back and doing so will get her attention.  I’m also confident that if we find her, we’ll be able to find Mariberry.”  He readied his sword and turned to the gate.  Renko regained her composure and noticed him moving on ahead of her.  “In any case, I’ll jump on ahead.  Something seems off about the gate ahead of us, so I’ll be the one who jumps in first to see what’s going on.”

“Wait, Eiji-kun!”

He ran into the gate, despite hearing her trying to stop him.  He disappeared through the blackened mist upon his entry.  Renko looked at the gate and wore the robe, hesitating whether if she should jump in with him or to stay put.  He mentioned that danger was ahead once she entered the gate, causing her to have doubts in their safety.  Then again, given that he just opened a D-brane using the ‘three strings’ the two had all along located on the spear he just used, this really was the only lead she had in finding Maribel.  She felt compelled to finish this investigation of hers she began over a year and a half ago, despite having an urge to give up on it.  And yet, even though she wanted to do so, the feeling of finding closure about her long lost friend kept coming back…

After a moment of indecision while wearing the yukata and wrapping the obi around her waist, she stepped forward, heading towards the gate with her gun on hand.

“Freeze,” a familiar voice demanded Renko.

Renko stopped moving, slowly raised her hands high.

“Throw the gun away.”

She complied, throwing the gun into the gate.  Jun did not notice where the gun went.

“Now turn around so I can see you, Renko-san.”

Complying once more, she turned and saw Jun with his pistol pointed at her.

“Don’t tell me that you plan on entering that gate with Eiji.”

“I am.”

“Why?  He’s a criminal to our organization, who destroyed one of our facilities and had ordered unauthorized materials to build a weapon!”

“Is that what you really believe?  Your best friend, who’s done his best trying to be there for you, had committed those falsely-claimed crimes so long ago?  Some friend you are to him…”

“I…  I wished that was all a lie, but it’s all true on their case files.  He didn’t disclose anything to me when it all began.  People who he knew could have helped him sort this situation out prior to today, but he chose to escalate it to the point that we’re now considering using force to detain him.”

Renko further backed away, drawing ever closer to the gate.  Jun pulled the hammer of his gun down, his hands shaking as he maintained his hold on it.  His eyes began to tear up.

“You’re not serious about following him, are you?  I’m telling you, he’s not who you think-”

“Quiet, Jun!”

Jun froze at her response.

“I’m tired.  Sick and tired of being alone in this world that doesn’t believe what I have seen through the years.  Sick and tired of being watched over by some organization that thinks what’s best for me-no, for the Sealing Club!  And most of all…”  Her eyes began to overflow with tears of sorrow.  “I-Merry was a friend that I held dearly to my heart…  I miss her, Jun…  More than anyone who thinks they understand this feeling of mine!”

She sobbed, almost gagging to breathe.  “… I honestly don’t know what you’re perspective of him is like, but I do know one thing:  H-he knows where Mariberry is at, and I...”  She closed her eyes, tears beginning to flow down from them as her heart began aching in agony.  “I need to go through with finding her before I consider my next path in life…  It’s something I have to see through to the end.  So please…  You have to let me go through with this so I can find out what happened to her…”

Jun began choking up in mixed anger, confusion, and resentment as she basically told him off.  His grip on the gun began to tighten at the sight of Renko at her lowest, wanting to give into his feelings into shooting her as he pointed the gun at her chest.  But then, he knew that Eiji would never forgive him, should he go through with it.  They were great friends to one another, and although their friendship had slightly faded due to time, he knew that he couldn’t pull the trigger, especially when the two suspected fugitives seemed to like each other.  Instead of stopping them like he was ordered to by the organization, he lowered his weapon, releasing the clip and bullet that was in the chamber on the gun, turning on the safety.

“Just go,” he flatly scoffed, shrugging his arms up, slowly shaking his head in shame for himself.

Renko looked at him one last time as she lowered her hands, seeing him dispiritingly falling to his knees.  The cosmic strings that flew around the shrine flew towards the gloves, entering in them.  She turned around and walked into the gate.

_Thank you, Jun-san,_ she mentally told him, going through the gate with bittersweet reservations.  Her conviction was now confirmed:  She pulled through with this search effort that she began over two year ago and intended to finish it once and for all.  With Eiji’s support and considering the amount of times he had helped her so far, she knew that she was sure to succeed in this journey of hers.

 

The young kensei cautiously entered through the gate with his sword ready by his side.  The thickened black mist around the gate caused him to be uncertain in whether to continue through it to face his fate alone, or wait for Renko to arrive.  After thinking about it for ten seconds, he decided to proceed.  His grip on the sword was tense as he switched stances in order to maintain his guard up.

“Ahahah,” a woman’s voice rung out in the mist, flipping towards him in mid-air with a rather oversized sword in her hands, attempting an overhead chop at him from behind.  Anticipating her attack, he raised his sword to block it, going down to his knees as he felt the immense pressure of the blade pushing close to him in seconds.  She landed on the ground, pushing the sword down onto him.

“Huh… That’s weird, why isn’t this sword of mine splitting through yours?”

The large sword on his own slowly pushed ever harder above him, making him sink lower to the ground.  With a sudden snap of both his wrists, he angled the blade down to his right, allowing it to slightly graze through the wooden sword as it slid down on its surface and slammed on the ground at his right.  Wasting no time, he gripped his left hand, swung his sword around, and moved with the motion, hitting Rumia in the face.  She was struck and unexpectedly, the wooden blade hit harder than she anticipated, causing her to stumble while dragging her sword with her.  A blue flame-like energy had flown from this strike of his blade, making her smile as she saw it igniting through his sword.

_So that’s his secret weapon,_ she thought, touching her temple and looking at him, readying her blade.  _I haven’t felt that energy hit me for nearly sixty years…_

She continued to circle around him, using the mist as a means for stealth.  Eiji proceeded to walk further in the darkened mist, just noticing that a blue fire-like energy ignited the wooden sword.  Apparently, this energy had strengthened his weapon.  Without it, he knew that he would have been chopped in half by the oversized blade his opponent was wielding just recently.  Closing his eyes, he began focusing his rage within the sword; the energy began switching colors from light blue to a deep red.

Rumia took this chance to appear out the shadows and flew at his side, but as she raised her blade, he quickly turned towards her and dashed forward, executing a swift cut.  Quickly moving the blade flat in front of her instead, she barely managed to block the attack before it reached her torso, to which the attempt was followed by a flurry of blows onto her blade.  Each strike hitting the flat of her blade was sharp, focused, and fast, forcing her onto the defense.  As she blocked each strike attempted by her opponent, she wondered what drove him this way.

A memory recalled back in her mind as Eiji pressed his blade onto her weapon.  She remembered when she stabbed a blonde woman in a researcher’s outfit with her hand after she had taken a blood sample from her by way of syringe.  After crushing her soul, she remembered a young man who looked strikingly similar to the one she was now fighting against run up to her in tears.  She stared back at him to confirm her memory, realizing that it was actually him.  She wanted to kill him at the time, but Yukari stopped her, stating that he may prove to be useful in the future.  After enjoying her meal, she returned back with Yukari to Gensokyo, remaining in there to lay low against the organization that was tracking her down at the time.

After struggling to pass through her large flat blade, Eiji figured that he could simply move to the side to attack her.  He dashed to his left, causing Rumia to react to his initial movement by turning towards him.  Seeing her reaction, he stopped and ran on the blade in an attempt to strike her from above as she raised her blade to block another attack.  Having no time to turn her blade to make him jump onto the sharp end, Rumia crouched and angled her blade onto her shoulder and swung it over her, effectively launching him over her head.  He flew and landed on the dirt, rolling away from her into the shadows.  He stood back up, feeling the impact of his fall.

“So you’re THAT guy from my last trip in the Outside world,” she announced, her voice echoing in the shadows.  “I never expected to see you breach Gensokyo without the use of Yukari’s gaps!”

_Yukari’s gaps,_ Eiji thought, raising his guard up.  _How does she know them?_

She laughed.  “You know, she screamed in agony when running away from me.  Nobody seemed to care about her during the pursuit.  Then again, it was at night; when everyone is usually sleeping.  Regardless, you’ve developed quite an interesting skill set so far since I saw you.”

Eiji remained silent, instinctively having an idea of who she was talking about.  He rushed towards the direction where her voice projected at as his anger eventually clouded his own judgement.

“In fact, you remind me of-”

“Shut up,” he shouted, attempting to strike her with an overhead chop.

Rumia easily blocked it, letting him try to batter his way through her weapon.  Soon though, his attempts became futile, each strike slowly losing impact.  She did not flinch as she continually blocked every strike he attempted.  Eventually, he began losing his breath, to which she used that opportunity to push him back against one of his attempts in hitting her.

“You know, its rude interrupting someone when they’re stating a point,” she stated, lifting her sword above her to slam it down at him.  He was barely able to roll to the left to avoid the blade, but he was met with an upward cleave, knocking him into the air as he instinctively managed to block it.  He landed back on the ground with both his feet planted, heavily panting.  The red flame-like energy from his sword began to wane.

As he felt his arms stinging from the impact of Rumia’s sword, Eiji saw rainbow-like strings fluttering through the darkened mist, wandering around the area.

“Is that all you’ve got?  I’ve expected more, considering that you’ve went through some training to prepare for this day.”  She winded her sword behind her and charged, not noticing that the strings began to wrap around her.

_Boom, boom!_

Two blue lasers emerged from the shadows, striking Rumia’s sword and her hand.  The sword flung away from her hands, almost bringing her with it.  Eiji looked to his left where the shots came from, noticing that the strings were clearing the surroundings of the mist.  He saw a black mushroom hat, surrounded by cosmic strings by the gate with the gun pointed at Rumia.

“Get up, Eiji,” Renko yelled, pulling the hammer of her gun with her thumb and extended her left hand to him.  “You won’t perish today, not when we’re not done with what we came here for!”

Strings flew towards him, entering in his body.  He felt a similar surge of energy from earlier flow within him, feeling refreshed as it coursed through him.

_That’s right,_ he thought, standing up and readied his slightly damaged sword.  _I have a promise to fulfill on her behalf…  I can’t sit around and think about death just yet!_

“Tch, this is getting annoying,” Rumia said, looking at Renko.  She jumped and hovered in the air, moving one of her hands to her side.

“I won’t let you get away,” Eiji responded, running towards her.

**Night Sign: Night Bird!**

A volley of orbs shot out of her hands as she waved it in front of her, followed by another one with her other hand.  Eiji was forced to backstep and perceive the pattern of incoming bullets, reacting to them as it closed in on him.  Renko saw the projections flying close to her, so she too met it head on, blindly firing her weapon.  Fortunately, the strings that tied around Rumia acted as a marker, allowing her projectiles to hit her with little to no aim.  Sustaining the impact of Renko’s projectiles, Rumia slowly advanced towards her, knowing that she was more of a threat than the martial artist who seemed to have nothing to respond back against her spell signs.

As the two women closed in on one another, Eiji was relieved of the projectiles that Rumia shot at him.  He used this as an opportunity to close in on her, running until he was at close proximity to the woman.  He tried to grab and throw her, but something seemed to anchor her position down.  Rumia took notice of him as he tried to grab her at the collar of her dress and slapped him away.

“Out of my way, human,” she told him as he staggered away from her backhand slap, turning her attention back at Renko.  She fired a barrage of projectiles from the plastic 3D gun, continually hitting Rumia.  At the same time, Renko had to deal with the barrage of bullets flying towards her, which lucky for her, the yukata Eiji gave her prevented them cutting through the fabric.  However, her purse did not fare so well.  Her belongings in it began falling down the ever growing holes from the purse, creating a trail of objects where she maneuvered around.  Eventually though, Rumia’s spell card broke after a number of shots Renko made to the youkai’s head, breaking her spell card trance.

She shook her head, recovering from spell shock quick enough to barely avoid Renko’s bullets, despite their homing trait.  Knowing at this point that there was little she could do to dodge her opponent’s bullets, she reached her left hand out to her sword, making it appear near her to grab it.  She placed it in front of her and charged, blocking every bullet that tried to pierce through the sword.  Renko began to step back as Rumia closed in, bracing for impact with her weapon, when Eiji ran to her side on time, jumping into the blonde woman and striking her with a quick upward slash as she lifted it behind her.  Her attack pattern was interrupted once more against this pesky samurai, who was annoyingly persistent in stopping her at all costs.

_All right, that’s it,_ she thought, planting her sword on the ground as she began flipping behind it.  _He’s dead now!_

Eiji perfectly landed on the ground, but as he did so, his entire body’s muscular build began fighting against him.

_Damnit, what now?_ He thought, struggling to keep his body in check.

Rumia descended down, pulling her blade off the ground and attempted a swipe.  He knelt under her first strike by a stroke of great fortune and instinct, but his luck began to turnover when she slammed her sword over him.  He was barely able to keep his sword up to attempt a block and as he did so, part of his vision partially blocked by the mask as it moved in front of his face.  Although he did his best to block it, the sword came down with tremendous force, forcing him to falter onto his back.  Knocked out by the impact of the force hitting his head, he let go of his sword, both his arms collapsing onto the ground.

“There, that should put you out of commission while I deal with your girlfriend.”

Renko witnessed what happened to her guide, while Rumia sighed in relief.  Extending her hand out to him, she became distraught when she saw Eiji’s head bleeding out, to which she began to enter into shock. This one chance she was given to find Maribel was now taken away.  She collapsed on the ground, tears beginning to cover her vision as she became disheartened to continue this fight.  Within her purse, her journal fell down beside her, revealing a laminated star-shaped card that she used as one of her bookmarks.  Rumia stared at Renko while morphing her face, slowly approaching her with arms extended at each side.

 

A transparent blue militant male appeared near the knocked out samurai, kneeling down beside him.  He placed one of his hands on the ground, while the other touching the mask on his left side.

_Get up, Eiji Kuroda,_ Tsuken called to him, using the mask as a way of communication.  _Didn’t you desire revenge against this monstrosity that took everything away, or are you just going to lay there while she takes everything away from you again?_

He would have been completely crushed had it not been for his quick reflexes in blocking the attack, his metal headband and the partial mask that moved in front of his face.  He was mere inches from having his head crushed by the sword, to which the three layered his forehead from facing such a fate. 

One of Eiji’s arms stirred, gripping the tiled path in an effort to try and pull away from the blades that seemingly pinned down.  Rain began to pour down from the sky as the mist cleared itself.  The swords began to soak up and drop water onto him, causing him to slowly recover from his comatose state.

_Good, you’re still alive.  Now, remove that wooden blade of yours by pushing it through the sword’s edge._   He complied; putting both hands on the wooden part and began pushing with all his might.  His muscles fought against him as he did so, but his drive alone to save Renko’s life was not enough.  He was about to give up, when suddenly, the remaining strings around the area slowly encircled him, shooting within his body.  Once again, he felt a surge of energy restoring his strength, allowing him to free himself from being trapped under the blade.  He rolled to his right, and pushed himself off the ground to stand.  He was shaking; his head bleeding under the metal headband, his head mentally projecting a tremendous amount of pain as he tried to remain steady.  The rain became heavy, making it hard for him to breathe, while his vision was becoming too blurry to clearly see what was going on.

“Any last words,” Rumia asked Renko, slowly approaching her as her hands began to burst into flames.

Renko was silent, distraught as she remained sitting on the ground.

“… Very well, I’ll make your death quick and painless then.”

She drew her right hand back, winding up a grab in preparation in grasping her by the neck, forming a black flame at her fingertips.  As she held her hand back, a watch flung at her, hitting her on the head.  She cocked her head when it landed on her hand, which she closed her hand and looked at it.

**“Unauthorized user detected,”** a voice from the watch told Rumia, suddenly sending waves of electricity shortly after grasping it.   **“Security protocol activated!”**

The electric shock coursed through her hand, which it worked its way through her entire body in part of her soaked clothes, causing her to release the black flames from her hand.  She shouted in agony, making Renko look up at her.  The watch fell down on the floor, blinking a red light that continually flashed.  The blonde youkai looked behind her to see the wounded samurai that she should have pinned down, who looking at her.

“Why, why won’t you stay down,” she exclaimed, aghast at him back up, struggling to keep balance again.

Renko looked ahead of Rumia, noticing that Eiji was struggling to stand.  A glimmer of hope slowly grew in her, seeing her dear Sealing Club member still intact, despite the shape he was in.

“Because,” he exhaustively whispered to himself, looking at Rumia in the eye.  “Because I made a promise to protect someone at all costs…”


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite being dazed and facing death's door, Eiji was able to avenge those that Rumia killed without killing her thanks to Renko and his spiritual guide. However, it took everything he had, forcing his entire body to relapse against his will after doing so. Now in the care of Renko, the two sought shelter at the run-down shrine they arrived at.
> 
> But the organization was not so far away from them, for another agent from within the dimension they arrived at responded to the alert Eiji's watch had activated. Not to mention, Renko finds out that Eiji was not just some mysterious stranger that showed kindness to her when the two met for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, readers, I'm going to be busy with work for the rest of this month (BUT ITS SO EARLY!!! UUGH!). The holidays got us forcing to work double-time here, so yeah... Nothing I could do against that... In the meantime, I came to say happy early Christmas and New Years for you all out there. Go get yourself, your loved ones, or even your friends some gifts for the coming holidays, and don't forget to enjoy them foods that are coming up!
> 
> In the meantime, get yourself a book, a haiku, or even a fic like this one to read while waiting for the coming holidays to arrive at your doorstep. Next coming month, I plan on working on a deal with a circle to get this fic published as a book for the coming Comikit conventions and possibly get some peoples to riff this work of mine for some public relations. If I publish more chapters after doing so, then you'll know that its coming soon in those conventions! Wish me luck~!

_I don’t know if I could do this,”_ Eiji thought, looking at Rumia, _she just seems to be too much for me to subdue without harm…_

He began to see multiple images of the blonde woman, who was currently in a fit about his persistence.

 _“You’ve got one shot to stop this youkai, who was unsealed by one of your strikes you’ve attempted from the duel before this,”_ Tsuken responded in his thoughts, the mask on his shoulder beginning to glow red.

_…Then how can I defeat her in this current state of mine?_

_You’re familiar with Kujin-in, right?_

_Yes, I am.  It was taught in one of my lessons in Karate once before._

_Good.  It will take time to prepare this technique I had in mind, though and it’s needed to prepare it.  You’ll have to come up with an attack to make it hit her, so choose the strike wisely._   He emerged from the mask and stood in front of him, turning to face him.

_…I’ll do what it takes to defeat her.  But, why be in front of me, when I need to see my enemy?_

_You’re dazed at the moment.  One’s focus will be thrown off if you’re seeing multiple images of her…  Now focus on my hand signals and follow along._

Tsuken waved both his hands in a circular motion on each side until they were above him, to which he brought them together near his face.  Eiji followed along while maintaining balance, desperate for anything to defeat his current opposition.  He toned in on his mentor’s hand gestures, ignoring the multitude of swirling blonde women that flew around the blue spirit.

Rumia eyed Eiji, who apparently stood straight.  Something seemed off about this samurai; the most notable was that he had moved his arms close to him, beginning to make hand gestures.  Was there an ambush around her?  No, there couldn’t be, especially when she sensed nobody else entering in the mist before it was erased by the human behind her.  Extending her left hand to the side, she magically teleported her sword to her side and grasped the handle, Eiji’s weapon falling off of the dissipated weapon.  She looked upon Eiji, who seemed to be making awkward hand gestures.

**_Rin, Pyō, Tō._ **

_I have to end him for good,_ Rumia thought, flying towards him.  _He’s too much of a threat to my future hunting exploits!_   As she approached close to him, she began to raise her blade over her right shoulder, readying herself to cleave through him.

_**Sha, Kai.** _

Rain continued to drench the three, the one most affected by it was Rumia.  Renko slowly looked at her book to see the laminated card she was using as a bookmark.  She was surprised to see it, realizing that she was going to show Eiji this card today, should they had met at a different circumstance.  It was about to slip off the book when she took it with her right fingers, looking at it.

**_Jin, Retsu._ **

“Die, maggot!” Rumia yelled, grasping the sword handle with both her hands and winded it behind her, drawing all her might on it to execute a downward cleave.

Renko flung the card behind Rumia, using the strings as a guiding system to make sure it reached her.  It took all she had to throw the card, causing her to lose balance and fall down.

**Last Word: Galaxy Stop!**

The large sword behind her suddenly stopped in mid-air, seemingly throwing Rumia back as she tried to lift it over her.  Strings shot out of Renko’s card from all directions, freezing in place around its short vicinity after their release.  Rumia couldn’t move as several strings pierced through both her sword and her.  She tried to look back at Renko, but she couldn’t turn her body at all, specifically her head; as if she was frozen in place.

“There’s my last word,” Renko told Rumia, knowing that she wouldn’t hear her voice through the rain.

**_Zai, Zen._ **

_D-damn you, female human,_ Rumia thought out, knowing that it was her doing.  _I should have ended you before chasing him!_   She tried to move her body in an effort to break free from captivity, but it was no use, for Eiji had suddenly clapped his hands together in a prayer motion after making the final gesture.  Her attention was forced upon him when she heard him clap, who pulled his right hand close to his side.

**Hakuba Sign: Sealing Strike!**

_Haku-wha!?_

Eiji motioned his right hand into a palm strike, striking onto her bosom.  As his strike landed onto her abdomen, a crack of thunder was heard from the sky above the three.  Immediately, the sword fell down immediately after the strings had dissipated, causing her to release it as it fell down.  The impact of the strike sent her flying by Renko, twisting in mid-air until she hit the ground, rolling on her sides.  He looked at his right hand, noticing that the sigil on his right hand illuminated.

“What is this,” he told himself.

 _Your first spell sign,_ Tsuken told him in his mind.  _Now’s your chance!  Advance and end this grudge of yours, once and for all!_

He looked upon Rumia, who was writing on the floor in pain, struggling to pick herself up.  Assuming that her black dress shirt was beginning to show signs of blood stains, the wound on her abdomen caused by the sealing club president’s gun seemed to have ruptured open again.  Not wasting any time loathing the thought of it, he proceeded to dash towards her, despite his entire body protesting against him.  His opponent took notice of this, to which she quickly floated back up to face him, extending her left hand out in an effort to charge up an orb.  As soon as it appeared, it suddenly backfired, sending waves of electrical jolts back at her hand, causing her to flinch at the shock as it broke in front of her.

 _W-what?_ She thought as her attention was now brought to her hand instead of her opponent, who had now approached in front of her.

Immediately after stopping near her, he motioned his arms around, crossing his left arm under his right, while his right hand held out a gesture consisting of his pointer and middle fingers pointing up, while the rest were bent towards the palm.  He took a step back as well, his eyes closed as his mind quickly pictured a set of techniques planned to be executed against the Youkai of Darkness.

“Take this,” Eiji yelled, opening his eyes and moving his right hand near his face and extended his left arm at the blonde woman’s right shoulder, grasping it as he reached for her shoulder.  He pulled her in and struck her with a gut punch with his right fist and turned around to hit her in the face with a right side kick.  She flew even further, landing at a reasonable distance at the gate the samurai created to pierce through the barrier.

He ran close to her, hitting her with a flicker jab, a straight and casting punch, followed by an elbow strike.  Images of his past about the woman he fell in love with during his university years flashed in him, to which he did not hesitate to strike the very monster in front of her, who killed her at that fateful day.  Having no time to react to his attacks, she staggered back at each strike, bracing for each strike to land on her.  Dashing forward to maintain distance, he struck her with a round and side kick, stepping forward to perform a flip kick, launching her in the air as mental images of the regret he caused to the Sealing Club two years ago flickered in front of him.  Eiji had never performed the last technique used in this barrage before: a flip kick, imperfectly landing on the ground to see that she was slowly falling down.

“This one’s personal,” he announced to her, performing a flying wind kick at the airborne Rumia.  She had tried to recover in mid-air and tried to block the incoming kick, thinking it would strike her into her body.  However, she did not expect him to perform both a round and a side kick instead, breaking her guard as the first kick connected with her head and the second finally onto her chest, knocking her into the brane gate.  He landed on the ground, knelt down near it, panting.  He pushed his body over the limits to defeat her, hoping that what he did just now was enough to disable her at best.  Standing up and turning around, despite his near exhausted state, he began limping towards Renko, who seemed to have blurred from his vision.

 

Picking her journal up, Renko stood up and walked to him, witnessing his collapse onto the concrete ground as he drew closer to her.  Running to his side, she knelt down and placed her hand on his left shoulder.

“Hey, are you all right,” she worryingly asked him him, concerned that he would not respond back.  Eiji tried to move, but his body would respond to him no longer.  He turned his head to face Renko, who was staring at him with a saddened look.

“S-shel… ter,” he weakly responded.

“A-ah…”

She looked around to see if there was a place they could take refuge.  There was a Torii gate at her left and a small run-down shrine and a storehouse to her right.  Figuring that the darkened sky had shown through the gate, it must have led them to a set of staircase that descended down a mountain.  Not taking the chance of leaving the area, Renko picked him up, holding her book to his chest to keep him steady while slinging one of his arms around her shoulders, making her way to the small shrine to her right.  A long, slender object flew behind her and landed on the ground, but she had no time to investigate what it was since her guide was currently bleeding out from the forehead.

Eiji and Renko ascended the small wooden steps of the shrine, approaching the front door.  She grasped the old shoji door and slid it to the left, surprised that it was unlocked.  The room was dark and the donation box was near the front door.  The two walked passed it and stood at the center, to which she carefully laid him on his back on the tatami mat.  She scoped around the area in hopes of finding some sort of medicine.  The cosmic strings from outside followed her inside the room, illuminating the darkened area.

The interior of the shrine was strikingly familiar to the one she was hiding in before Eiji rescued her.  Only this time, however, it was maintained fairly well with more furniture present and the walls accounted for.  Some of the strings pointed towards a cabinet that was located at the east end of the room.  She stood up and walked towards it, opening the drawers.  Several transparent containers within the cabinet were filled with various mixtures, while others had medicinal herbs that were mostly plucked into leaflets.  She was not familiar with the medications presented to her, so she picked out a random plastic container that looked like ointment, took a cleaning cloth from one of the shelves above the medication and poured a clear chemical container that looked like alcohol into a small bowl, carefully walked towards him to be sure not to spill anything.

She placed what she carried near Eiji, kneeling down once more to his level at his left.  Untying the headband knot, she began removing it off his head.  As she did so, Eiji winced at the pain on his forehead.  The wound almost latched onto the object, causing it to bleed once more when she removed it.

“I… I’m sorry, Renko,” Eiji weakly began, opening one of his eyes.

“Don’t talk,” Renko worringly replied, taking her gloves off and placing it near his left hand.  “You’ve done what you could to save me from the clutches of that woman.”

Trying to focus on the matter at hand, she dipped the cloth into the bowl, making sure that part of it was soaked up and began to carefully clean the injury.  For someone taking a fatal crushing blow to the head, his head seemed to be unusually intact.  She wondered if Ki Energy was involved in some way in protecting him from injuries.

“But I’ve… I’ve been withholding information… abou-,” he continued, wincing as she began cleaning up the wound on his forehead.

After cleaning the wound, she placed the cloth at her side and took the ointment on her hands, opening the container.  She looked at it at first, noticing that the color of it seemed to be off.  A sense of uncertainty crept in her mind as she examined it closely.

“Hold still, Eiji,” she told him, seeing him clench his fists to brace for medicinal pain.

 _I’m not sure if this is the right medicine for the occasion,_ she thought, questioning herself if she should touch it or not.  Her right hand shook as she drew her finger towards it.  Suddenly, she heard the sound of boots planting on the wooden floor behind her, which she closed the lid of the ointment and looked at who was at the door.

A man peeked inside the small shrine, looking at the two people at the center of the room.  He seemed to be in his early thirties, wearing a uniform closely resembling the Japanese Self-Defense Force.  What’s more, his facial appearance resembled a bit like her injured club member on the floor behind her.  Astonished, Renko locked her gaze at him, to which he entered in the building and had a closer look at the two.  He noticed that Renko had on her hands a blue ointment that he made from crushed herbs that originated from this land he was stuck in.

“You know, if that was applied on his wounds, it would have worsened it,” he told her, sticking out one of his hands to her, wanting the small container back.

“Really,” she responded, handing him back the medicine.  The army personnel walked towards the cabinet Renko had rummaged through and placed the medicine back, taking a different kind of container and some bandages with him, going back to them and kneeling near the young man’s right side.

“You’re looking for this kind of medicine,” he stated, opening the container to reveal a red balm that he began scooping up with his fingers after wearing some plastic gloves.  “I figured you cleaned his wounds already?”

“Yes, I did…”

“Good, I’ll need you to hold him still while I apply this on his forehead.”

She complied and softly held Eiji’s shoulders down, placing her head near his chest.

“You’ll be fine, Eiji-kun,” she softly told him, maintaining her grip on him as the mysterious soldier applied the balm on him.  “Just hang on, okay?”

He struggled and weakly howled as the medication was applied on his forehead.

 _Eiji… Eiji Kuroda,_ the soldier thought as he began rubbing the balm on the young samurai’s wound.  _S-she doesn’t mean my younger brother, right?_

After curing him of his wound and wrapping his forehead with bandages, the two took off his armor and clothing, making sure there were no other wounds inflicted upon him.  Aside from his hands and forearms showing notable contusions from the fight, there were no wounds that seemed life-threatening.  A sense of relief came to the two as they placed what he wore beside him.

Just then, a green-haired girl entered the room, walking towards the soldier.  Her skin had a dark tan tone, with her long hair flowing behind her, a frog hairclip attached on one of her bangs.  She stood behind him, looking at the injured young man lying on the floor, then at Renko, who stared into her green eyes.

“Who are they, Len,” she shyly asked the soldier, holding onto his fatigues.  Her gaze turned away from Renko as she gazed at her.

“They’re our guests,” Len lied.  “Apparently, one of them was injured and I just tended to his wounds.  Say hello to them, Koharu.”

“H-hi…”

Renko smiled back, despite the break in environment of the current situation.  Although she was worried if her guide would be fine, she was not in the mood to be rude to the two either.

“Hello,” she kindly responded back.  “Thank you for helping us.  We’ve just got out of a fight against a monster that was around the area.”

“There was one around here,” he shockingly asked.  “Where did it go now?”

Koharu pointed at Eiji, who was lying on the ground.

“That man knocked her back somewhere.  I’m not sure where she disappeared off to, though…”

“Huh… that explains why there was a watch signaling for help…”

“A… Watch?”

“Mhmm, I found it on the grounds as I made my way up here.  I figured it must belong to either one of you…  Here, you could have it back.”

The soldier handed Eiji’s white watch back to Renko, to which she was cautious whether it would shock her like it did to Rumia.  To her surprise, however, it did not.  Additionally, the red flashing signal seemed to have shut off.

“Tell me, who are you two, if you don’t mind.”

“O-oh…  I’m Usami, Renko and he’s Kuroda, Eiji.  We were lost in the forest, to which we stumbled here, finding a blonde-haired woman creating a blackened mist around the area.  We took care of it, but he incurred an injury in the process…”

Len looked at the green-haired girl and she stared back at him.

“Is this true, Koharu?”

“Yes it is.  I saw them fighting against her once the dark mist cleared up.”

“I see...”

He stood up and walked up to the front door, looking outside.  Koharu followed along as well, running outside to meet an old woman at a distance.  Renko noticed that on his left wrist he had a watch similar to the one she was holding, except that it was a camouflage green.

“That watch you’re wearing… Are you from the International Youkai Exterminators Agency,” she cautiously asked him.

He looked back at Renko, his ears not hearing the mention of that organization for a long time until now.  A sense of hope jumped up in him and he moved towards her.

“How did you hear about them?  Did they mention about sending someone that knows how to repair objects?  I need to know what’s going on there!”

“H-hold on a second…  Eiji had this watch with him for a long time …”

He stepped back, shocked that she confirmed the fact that his brother was now lying on the floor, injured.  He did not expect his sibling to join the organization as well.

“He joined the I.Y.E.A. too!?”

“No, not at all…  He told me that he was rejected by them when he tried to though…”

“A-ah…  I see…”

Len continued to gaze outside at the courtyard, his face showing indifference to the situation at hand.  He wanted to make sure that the old woman by the spear was well.  Renko still remained by Eiji’s side, making sure that he was still awake.  He motioned a hand signal to the old woman outside, telling her that everything was fine at the moment.

“Are you related to him by the way,” she asked Len.  “You both look similar to one another in a way…”

“Yes, yes I am,” he answered.  “I’m his older brother, Len Kuroda.  The organization mentioned earlier must’ve told my family that I died during a war that began by Korea alongside with my regiment, but that was entirely a cover-up made by the government in order to maintain secrecy between the people and this land.”  He brought the watch to her, showing her a cracked screen.  “As you could see, I’ve been stuck here for some time and I lost track of it since my watch is broken, rendering it nearly useless.  The squadron I arrived with was promptly scattered after losing touch with command.  I’m unsure what had happened to them shortly after breaching through the boundary at the time.  I fear that I’m the only one standing out of them…”

He sighed, looking at the watch Renko had on her hand.

“May I examine that watch of his?”

“Sure, here…”

He took the white watch from Renko and turned it on, bringing up the screen to examine what programs Eiji had on it.  It seemed the communication device on it was still functional, despite it not being used for quite a while.  Additionally, most of the programs were locked on his account, which he was surprised that his little brother did not notice this at all.  There was a red circled number on the envelope, pressing it to see what it was.  It seemed to be typed to Renko, to which he pushed the holographic letter to her.

“He must have sent a letter to himself.  This is for you though, since it has your name on it.”

“Oh?”

Renko took it on the palm of her hands, letting it hover above it.  Opening it in front of her with both hands, she mentally read it through:

_Usami Renko,_

_If you’re reading this letter, then it means that you’ve followed me through the dimensional distortion I’ve suspected in the Hakurei Shrine back when we both search for Maribel a year or so ago.  Before all of what has happened at that time, I have to confess that you’re not alone in this investigation of yours.  In fact, I knew of a Maribel Hearn during my middle school years, to which I just remembered shortly after her disappearance two years ago.  She mysteriously appeared before me a little over two years prior to that fateful day, which I recently moved away from my parents.  She wanted someone to confide to during that cold day, which I welcomed her in, serving her a hot chocolate drink before finding her friend some medicine.  I was shocked that we both got along well, despite it has been ages since we’ve communicated to one another during our school years together…_

_Soon enough, however, we seemed to become close to one another to the point in sharing little bits of secrets to each other.  It was amazing that the two of you were still together in that club throughout those years of university life until two years ago, when she disappeared…  It’s really a shame that you were planning on giving it up this week…  Eventually though, she confided to me that an alter-ego of her persona was overtaking her mind.  Hearing the name ‘Yukari’ from you via text message days ago gave me a suspicion that the two may have been tied together in some way, given that it was a name she gave to me when we first reunited._

_That being said, I’m doing what I can to help you find Maribel because I too want to see her again.  I’m not sure about you, but I have some unrequited feelings that need to be expressed to her as well once we both encounter her together…  Like I mentioned earlier though, I cannot guarantee our safety, nor do I see a return trip happening once we’ve jumped through the distortion.  It was the very reason why I withheld information from you and I am deeply regretful for doing so...  Needless to say, I’ve taken measures in preparing us for this day and I hope it’s enough for this investigation of yours to succeed._

_With sincerity,_

_Kuroda Eiji._

Her eyes began to form tears, reading the entire letter once more.

“Oh, Eiji-Kun,” she sobbingly told herself, letting out tears of sorrow and slight joy as she softly placed one of hand onto his chest, while another covering her eyes.  _Why did you not explain about your relationship with her to me before we embarked on this journey of ours?!_

 

Mystical eyes around the vicinity seemed to gaze at the blonde-haired woman in a purple-red haze space, who wore a purple dress and a frilled hat.  Both her hands were near a gap she had opened in front of her.  She was gazing at it, which visualized two shrines that seemed to be in depilated states that had people in it.

 _Well, that was unexpected,_ Yukari shockingly thought, grinning as she replayed one of the side’s events.  _It seems as if they found their way through the barrier without my assistance…  Still, I fear that the current inhabitants of my land will be hostile.  I hope they know what to expect when traversing it._

She had been watching both Eiji Kuroda and Renko Usami for the entire four weeks since her first encounter with them while focusing on repairing the gaps throughout the world tied to her land of Gensokyo.  The two had reformed the Sealing Club, using both their abilities to cause trouble to some of her gaps.  Although she wanted to stop the two, a feeling within her stopped her from doing so; as if a side of her told her of a time when she, herself, enjoyed piercing through many boundaries so leisurely with a companion.

A gap from a distance behind her appeared and one of her shikigami, a female nine-tailed fox humanoid, emerged from it.  She went up to Yukari and bowed.

“You called for me, Yukari-sama,” she asked her, looking at her after bowing.

“Yes, I did,” Yukari responded, turning around.  “I need you and Chen to retrieve a Youkai that had wandered into the Outside World several weeks ago.”

“Have a location and time?”

“Yes.  Tokyo, Japan, year 2072 on the 3rd month of the 26th, morning at Shibuya; the two of you have two days to at least scout and report on the matter of her status.  I cannot go due to being too prolific in my involvement trying to retrieve her.  I’ll need you two to go in place for me.”

“I see… Anything else we need to watch out for, other than the organization’s potential threat to us?”

“There’s a festival going on at a shrine, which is where she’ll most likely be located at.  It might be wise to have costumes prepared for the occasion.”

The nine-tailed fox smiled and walked back into the gap behind her.  “Chen will look forward to going then.  It’s been a long time since the two of us went to one.”

Yukari gapped in a slender object and fanned it behind her, revealing the purple fan that had the Yakumo sigil in the center.  “Ran, be careful out there…”

“I will, Yukari-sama…”

Yukari saw her shikigami bow and walk off, bringing the fan near her face.  Turning around, she continued to stare intently at the small gaps in front of her.  She was almost done maintaining them, when earlier in the week; two large membranes emerged at a special train route that ran between Tokyo and Kyoto, marginally undoing her work.  Additionally, the Great Hakurei Barrier had been cut by the young man she recently made a deal with, forcing her to focus on that particular matter before it continued to expand by the artifact he used to do so.

She sighed in relief after completely patching the barrier up on both sides of the shrine and motioned the fan near her face to emulate a subtle wind.  Although she had Ran to maintain her gaps scattered around the world during winter, doing so while maintaining the barrier around her land alone was becoming cumbersome.  There was once a shrine maiden she knew who had helped her keep an eye out on the barrier, but she grew old and was currently seeking someone to inherit her role.  Judging from the fact that this particular shrine maiden had not given much word to her about the matter, picking one must be proven difficult ever since a global incident from the outside world happened nearly sixty years ago had affected her Gensokyo.

Yukari motioned her hand on the run-down shrine on the left side of the gap, zooming in at first at the sorrowful Renko.  For a second, a feeling of guilt shot within her heart, knowing that the day would soon come when the two would meet again, despite the land she cared for was not in the best shape.  Her eyes widened, noticing who was by her side.  Her attention was now brought upon the injured Eiji that was lying down on the floor centered in the room.  Her hand quickly swiped on the gap to change the view to see his face.

She never expected him to have the sigil of the Hakurei on his right palm and wondered what would come in the near future.  What’s more was the fact that the organization that she had once associated herself with had been searching for him this whole time.  A mix of happiness and sadness emerged within her as she extended her hand to the young wounded man, wanting to lay her hands on him once more like how her old friend was currently doing so.

“So, it has begun,” she depressingly gasped, letting her hand fall to her side after seeing one of his hands touch Renko’s hand on his chest.  “I wonder what the Hakurei God sees within him…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Arc 3: The Boundary Between Two Dimensions COMPLETE  
> -Book 1/2: Bond of Memories COMPLETE


End file.
